Today, I am featuring fall foliage and skies from the morning of October 14.
Framed.
Saturday we will have winter weather, but it's supposed to warm up again (a bit more seasonably than the last few days) by Monday.
Joining Yogi and other skywatchers each Friday for #SkywatchFriday.
Fall has arrived where I live in the Southern Tier of New York State. Trees are just starting to turn. The sun is disappearing for longer and longer.
These two pictures of honey locust trees (I think) were taken yesterday, accompanied by our fall gloomy skies.
Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.
Several years ago, trees were planted in several local parks along rivers or streams under a Trees for Tribs program. Here's more information (from 2022) from my blog on this program.
It's been interesting seeing these trees grow.
Of course, the trees already in the park cast some shadows, too.
Joining Lisa at This and That: A Blog for her #ShadowshotSunday.
Today, on this off day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, I decided to feature some spring scenes.
Joining Lisa at This and That: A Blog, for her #ShadowshotSunday.
Today I am spotlighting the state of Virginia. I have visited it several times.
First, a beautiful university campus in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Welcome to the University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819.
Its Rotunda was designed by Jefferson and its construction was completed shortly after Jefferson's death in 1826. If you wonder, viewing these pictures, if it resembles Monticello (Jefferson's home) - it does.
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| Monticello from a distance, April 2016 |
It should be noted that buildings on the original campus were built with the labor of enslaved people, and that scholars (male, of course). Women also had to fight hard to be able to go to this university, which only became fully co-educational in 1973.
I'll end here with beautiful dogwoods in bloom, Monticello, April of 2016.
V day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme: Beauty of our Land.
Many of our native trees are blooming. Soon, leaves will appear and you won't find shadows like this.
Bare trees have a certain beauty, as do their shadows.
And, the crocuses are blooming.
This is the nice parts of spring.
But, our changeable weather struck again - a handful of hours after I took this picture, it clouded over, rained, and the temperature dropped. Winter still won't let go but at least there were no severe weather events. We've been fortunate so far.
Joining Lisa at Lisa's Garden Adventure for #ShadowshotSunday.
Time is rushing by. It's Sunday and it's time for #ShadowshotSunday, brought to us by Lisa at Lisa's Gardening Adventures.
We welcome you to come out of the shadows and join us for #ShadowshotSunday. The link to join is on the link at the beginning of my post, above.
Hope to see you there on this first day of December.
And tomorrow is all about music. Hope you will join me again tomorrow.
Two fall foliage shadows for your consideration, as I join up today with Lisa at Lisa's Garden Adventures for her #ShadowshotSunday.
November 3, some of the last of the fall color.
November 5.
The leaves keep falling and we keep raking.
Speaking of shadows, history also has shadows. This is the anniversary of Kristallnact, the Night of Broken Glass, that took place November 9-10, 1938 in Germany. Here is a description of that event, one that echoes into the present as we face increasing hate in our world.
Let us insure that this history and other histories of hate (so many of them) never recede into the shadows of our memories, to be ignored, denied, or forgotten.
As we close in on the last days of October here are some sights of the season.
Found Sunday in Otsiningo Park in Binghamton, New York. Someone left a random pumpkin in this scenic spot. There were two other pumpkins nearby. I suspect these were part of displays for the Scarecrow contest that ended Thursday. I'm sure the wildlife will enjoy these.
This was nearby.
Big pumpkins/small pumpkins at a farm stand. Those big pumpkins were big.
Speaking of wildlife, here's an Eastern chipmunk (right center) preparing for its winter torpor. Fun fact, chipmunks do not hibernate. They gather food in their burrows or nests and enter a semi-hibernation state, where they will occasionally eat.
Meanwhile our Northern cardinals stay colorful all year. I wish I could zoom in better with my iPhone. The red male Northern cardinal is sitting on the fence.
I have to prepare for winter, but right now I'm spending some time raking leaves. Here, this is an annual ritual.
What are you doing?
Colors of the season from earlier this week when the weather was nicer.
Scarecrow with colorful trees in the background.
Hope you are having a great fall (or spring, depending on where you live.)
Joining Lisa at Lisa's Garden Adventures for #ShadowshotSunday.
We are at peak or near peak color where I live in the Southern Tier of New York.
It's true that people don't come to our area. It's true that you can enjoy better color in places like Vermont. But, on the other hand, there are no traffic jams here. You just cruise roads just a few miles from your house.
Here is some color from yesterday.
It was another spectacular day, with temperatures in the 70's F (23ish C). Again, some of my photos had to be discarded, but no matter. I was grateful for being able to leave work early and take this drive with my spouse.
So, thank you for coming along with me. Here's your reward from our local annual Scarecrow contest - a couple of colorful entries.
Lucky 13? CHOW is a local food bank run by Catholic Charities. There is such a great need out there.
Finally, an entry from Ametek, a worldwide company with a presence in Binghamton, New York.
Tomorrow is the last day of the Otsiningo Park Scarecrow Contest, and I'll hopefully have a few more pictures tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday.
Everything in Nature seems to be so sped up this year. I know the winter was mild, but still...
I've done an annual (or nearly annual) post on one of our prettiest native blooming trees, the catalpa. I happened to look at a post from 2019 on that year's bloom. The post is dated June 27, 2019.
In 2017, my post was dated June 22. In 2013, also June 22.
In 2020 (that year we want to forget) the pictures were taken on June 21.
This isn't the only plant that is blooming ahead of time in my Southern Tier of New York garden. I already have one day lily blooming (not the ones you see in commercial landscaping, which are blooming, too) and some others have buds.
Last year I lived in USDA zone 5b. This year it's been upgraded to zone 6a. (The higher the zone number the higher your average winter temperatures are - that's an oversimplification but it will do for my purposes here). How can people deny something is happening?
But back to the early blooming catalpas.
Fast forward to this year, 2024. First, a few facts about these native trees.
This is a native tree (Catalpa speciosa) with beautiful, showy, fragrant blossoms in the late spring/early summer. They can grow upwards of 40 to 60 feet (18.28 meters) tall and make a good shade tree. Their beautiful white flowers make a mess for the homeowner who has to clean them up. If you have to cut one down, they make (I understand) good lumber.
After they bloom, they grow long "beans", which can be upwards of 20 inches (50 cm) long. In winter,these beans are shed. Time for another cleanup.
You'll be cleaning for a long time, too, as
these trees can live as long as 150 years.
Today is June 13. The trees have been blooming since about June 6. They look to be at peak right now.
This first photo was taken near Otsiningo Park in Binghamton, New York on June 7.
Here's another from June 7.
In my neighborhood, I can get closer. Let's look at photos taken June 11.
Let's get even closer.
Finally, I hope this shows the size these trees can get to.
I am llinking with Thursday Tree Love, brought to us by Parul and her blog Happiness and Food.
Love flowers? Join me again Saturday for more flowers at Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.
"Let's take our hearts for a walk in the woods and listen to the magic whispers of old trees." -Unknown
These aren't all natives or even in woods, but they are all beautiful.
Four trees that bloomed in the past couple of weeks in my part of the Northeast United States.
1. A young red horse chestnut tree. Learn more about the horse chestnuts here. The red horse chestnut (Aesculus x carnea) is a hybrid coming from a cross between a horse chestnut and a buckeye, and may have originally come from Germany. It's increasing in popularity where I live.
2. White dogwood (Cornus florida) in a wooded area off a popular rail trail. Dogwoods are native to where I live and is a small understory tree when in the wild. They are also popular in landscaping. Their bloom for 2024 is over now - this was taken about a week ago.
3. Pink dogwood, planted along the same trail as a tribute to a young woman who died from cancer. Pink dogwoods are native also but aren't common in the wild, as the pink flowers arise from a recessive gene.
4. It's hard to see this but I think this is a wild rhododendron. I've never seen it locally (although they o grow in this area) and this came as a surprise. I wish I could have gotten closer to it.
Joining Parul at Happiness and Food for her twice a month #ThursdayTreeLove.
This past two or three weeks, our spring trees in the Binghamton, New York area showed off their blooms for us. Here are some of the highlights.
West Middle School (the junior high that one Rod Serling attended) April 25.
Flowering cherry Binghamton May 1.
Pink dogwood Vestal Rail Trail May 2. (This tree is planted in memory of a young woman who died years ago from cancer.)
My crabapple May 3 (its flowers are gone now, too).
Finally, a white tree (apple?) in bloom on the Vestal Rail Trail May 4. Such sweet memories, as we move on to lilacs and other spring delights.
Joining Parul at Happiness and Food for #ThursdayTreeLove with my pink and white tree flower parade.
