Welcome to the first edition of Autumn 2022 where we’re joining those cute hosts from Adventures of the LLB Gang. Don’t forget to click on the link to see what others around Blogville posted for this blog hop.
Yesterday was the official arrival of Autumn, our favorite season and it’s already started to show up in small slices around the 303. A couple of days of some very welcome rain this week probably helped the process though small spots of leaves starting to turn have been noticed for the past several days.
Taking another trip down to Sloan’s Lake, let’s see what Nature served up for us this week, shall we?
As I entered the park, the honey locusts trees practically shouted with spots of yellow brilliance. They are one of the first trees to show signs of the changing seasons and their honey gold leaves appearing in a few spots called out to me.
Autumn is the season of transition from summer to winter in the Northern Hemisphere and marks shorter days, cooler temperatures and a change in leaf color as deciduous trees begin their annual leaf shedding.
Like pots of paint from an artist’s pallet, spots of color show up each day while wildlife prepares for the upcoming season of change as well. Squirrels seem to gather more (i.e. they seemingly become more brazen about their garden raids). This little guy was determined to photobomb my golden moment by barking his self-righteous displeasure at me as I walked around the tree attempting to find the best angle.
Squirrels weren’t the only critters spotted in the park. Different kinds of birds cruised by searching for whatever they nosh upon.
Some just rested in the morning hours, waiting for their opportunity to rifle through trash bins once the morning visits went about their days. These guys refused to yield their space even as I moved closer. Clearly they didn’t view me as any threat.
These ducks demonstrated the adage, ‘any ole port in a storm’ will suffice as I walked near the shoreline, although they kept one eye always open and focused on whether I made any sudden moves toward them.
Nature is marvelous as it transitions into another season. Crab apple trees produce hips for the local critters to stock up on. The supply chain seems fairly robust around the lake.
Sharing the bounty of the summer, trees also produces some interesting seed pods. No clue as to what this tree is, but found the seed pods fascinating as well as colorful. It was like seeing fireworks, without the noise.
Colorado is well known for its quaking aspen’s brilliant gold shimmering in a blue sky but there are some elements of red and orange to be found that dominate the season in the Midwest and eastern states. This holly along the sidewalk hellstrip beaconed me to inspect it more closely. The shock of color provides us uprights with a beautiful scene while producing fruit for birds and other critters.
This tree just can’t seem to commit to one color, with a few yellow and orange leaves as well as a canopy of red ones.
This milkweed caught my eye providing quite a curious show with it’s cottony seed pods. Those seeds should provide new plants for butterfly meals next summer.
While Autumn officially arrived this week, the Ranch Hands and I expect to enjoy some Indian Summer weather this weekend and hope for a visit to checkout the changing aspens in the high elevations. What plans do you have for the first weekend of Autumn? Whatever you do, we hope there’s some exploring the gorgeous pallet that Nature shares this time of year.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Charlee: “Well we all know what the dog is going to say about this.”
Lulu: “SQUIRREL!!!”
Chaplin: “So predictable.”
Oh yeeeesss! 🐿
And it’s only just begun! So much change lies ahead. Beautiful pictures, my friend. We seem to be skipping Indian Summers lately. All this week, we will be lucky if we hit higher than Monday’s 66. Actually, for the next 16 days, we are not expecting higher than 64, staying mostly in the high 50’s.
The sun has finally decided to make an appearance so I shall take advantage and get out there! Maybe I’ll get lucky with some shots. It’s been drizzly and grey all morning till now.
Happy Sunday (I’m a tad behind, as you can see!)
Oooh, those temps sound perfect to me! Enjoy your outing. 🏃🏽♀️
They are and I did! 🙂
Mee-yow Miss Monika an Sweet Norman an Elsa what a lovelee Auntumn there so far! Ourss iss simmylar here…lotss of golden yellow leevess on many of THE treess!
Wee have Mistur an Missus B Blue Jay who come fore peenutss….sadly no signss of Cheemo or Macy or Mina Squirrelss….
Yore Squirrel frend iss ADOORBSS! Mee missess mee 4 legged frendss alot!
An THE Duckiess are too cute!!
Wishin efurryone a grate weekend. BellaSita went out to Post Office to pick up our mew book from ERin THE Literary Cat an then to store fore snax.
Then shee trimmed our wee garden an cleened up our patio…iss cloudy an drizzley…wee have tail end of Hurrycane Fee-ona….shee has hit Purrovince of Nova Scotia furry hard 🙁
Wee were lucky to miss THE askshun!
***nose kissess*** BellaDharma an {{{huggiess}}} BellaSita Mum
Very glad you are safe from the tail end of Fiona. What a storm!
What gorgeous photos of the arrival of Fall…….my favorite season. I always say that Fall is my favorite then Spring arrives and I change my mind!
Hugs, Pam
It’s easy to be swayed by Spring’s loveliness though I continue to hold autumn as the best season of the year. Have a great autumn weekend!
Yay! Fall made it here! 😊 Are you doing a Happy Dance?
Enjoyed all the photos but the lake with the birds and ducks are the best. 😊
Happy as a clam at high tide! Sloan’s Lake is one of those places I truly enjoy visiting-there’s always something special to enjoy. Here’s to a great weekend!
Lake’s are great! Cheers!🥂
Sloan’s Lake is especially wonderful and it has the most amazing view of Denver’s downtown skyline. Early mornings are spectacular with the sun coming up behind them.
🥰
That’s a lovely collection of autumnal feeling
Thanks, Helen, autumn is that beautiful season that warms the heart and plays to all the senses.
Wow! So much autumnal beauty!! Our crab apple tree is chock full of hips, and the birds are loving them!
Thank you. Those hips will provide a great buffet all winter for the birds who stay in town.
The honey locusts trees were yelling, the deciduous trees were shedding, the squirrels gathered while birds cruised and the landscape shimmered in a golden blush that said . . .
FALL’S COMING!!!!
Whoa…that was exquisitely put! Happy first weekend of autumn. 🍁 🍂
Woohoo!!
Always stood in Awe of the Aspen’s whenever in Colorado in the fall. Great photos, Monika.
Thanks John. You’re right, there is something exquisitely beautiful about hillsides full of glorious golden aspens with a blue bird sky as a backdrop. Hope you have a lovely weekend. I hear it’s still monstrously hot down your way.
Yes, it is but next weekend we are supposed to have lows at night of upper fifties. Days still in the 90s though
Stay cool. 👍🏻
I will. Thanks, Monika.
That tree snag the ducks are resting on sort of looks like an alligator…Ducks, best beware!! LOL!
Beautiful fall images!
I too, love the early fall, with the cool nights and the fairly balmy days, today is like that here.
Enjoy your weekend! I’ll be at my work…
Funny you should say that, I was thinking something very similar since someone had released a Caiman earlier this year! LOL Don’t work too hard
Yes, fall in Colorado must include a trip into the mountains to see the aspens, so pretty!
Oooh, thanks for taking us on such an interesting and varied nature walk around Sloan’s Lake. It was almost like we were actually there (and not, as in my case, in Northern Scotland!)
Toodle-oo!
Nobby.
Thanks so much for ‘swinging by.’ We love visitors, especially anyone from bonnie old Scotland! (sorry for the delay in responding; over 30 comments were sitting in my spam folder. Guess WP had a bad case of hiccups. We hope you’ll swing by again soon as Sloan’s Lake is becoming one of our favorite destinations in the ‘Hood. 💙
We do Indian Summer here through most of October. A wonderful time of year.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. Scritches to the pups, a smooch to Norman and a hug to you. ♥
And the light is so exquisite that time of year. 🍁🍂
Your favorite season is here at last! Some nice color coming on, too. On Sunday I connect a flight through Denver, I’ll wave when I fly past. 😉
We’ll be waving back! 👋🏻
Great captures here of the wildlife and the wild fruit, as well as the colors of Autumn just starting to present themselves! Our squirrels are on “Red Alert” also, and that means we drivers have to be on alert as well. They are so excited this time of year it’s like they have blinders on when it comes to cars. Sloan’s Lake beautiful as always. A happy Fall weekend to all on the Ranch!
Thanks, Bruce. This is my all time favorite time of year-nature provides such a beautiful backdrop to this time of transition. Wishing you and yours a swell weekend!
oh what a wonderful season.. we love the ducks… they look as if they would like a sweater ,O) happy weekend
It seemed like they were sleeping in on a cloudy morning. Have a pawsome weekend!