With it being Nature Friday, we are once again joining our friends from Adventures of the LLB Gang for their weekly blog hop. Don’t forget to click on their link to see all that others haver shared this week.
The Mum: Hiya, House Pony. It looks like Nature has decided to roll out some slices of autumn finally. Sheesh, you’d think she was Microsoft changing to Windows 11 with a new software rollout.
Wilson: To show how slow the ‘software update’ has been these past few weeks, here is a progression of a tree we pass by every day on our walk. Mum has previously complained mentioned how slowly Nature has been taking its sweet time showing off its autumnal beauty. But it has been interesting watching it change, not daily, but rather weekly. Here’s Exhibit A from earlier this month.
The Mum: It was as if someone forgot to check their inbox to read a memo about changing colors.
Wilson: Frankly I think Mother Nature forgot to push the send message button, Mum. Fast forward to a couple of days ago, and here’s that same tree. Looks like the message was finally read and executed.
The Mum: And then there were some trees that said, “oh crap, we’re late and started dropping most of their leaves all at the same time.”
Wilson: I’ve been entertained by some side-by-side comparisons. Some trees are turning while others seem to be in denial like these two. Colorful on the left…green on the right. That has to irritate the person who does the leaf raking since the season for that activity is dramatically extended.
The Mum: Other trees just flat out scream “AUTUMN!” like this tree we passed by yesterday a couple of blocks away from the ones above. Clearly the neighborhood has defaulted to various time zones for changing colors.
The Mum: You’re right, our morning walks in particular are taking a lot longer because you’re acting like a NCIS investigator.
Wilson: But Mum…even you’ll have to admit, the smells of autumn are a-m-a-z-i-n-g. I can’t help myself when things are that much more interesting.
The Mum: I really don’t mind, I love watching you in olfactory heaven and the more you sniff, the more your brain relaxes and enjoys the whole walk. Plus it seems to wear you out more completely. When we arrive home from a walk, you pass out from having your nose engaged far more than the physical exercise. A couple of times, you’ve gone into such a deep sleep, you started making adorable little squeaks. You must be enjoying some wonderful dreams.
Wilson: Ummm {blushing} I guess so. Anyway, I am having a most enjoyable time picking up all manner of fabulous smells. It’s like Mother Nature is providing me with a calorie-less treat so I’m good with that.
The Mum: We were supposed to get a bit of moisture this week but it skipped over our neighborhood. The cloudy and windy conditions provided some lovely photographic opportunities for shadows and composition like this golden leaf that managed to land squarely in the middle of this clump of leaves in a bush.
Wilson: Nature knows how to stage scenes, Mum.
The Mum: She sure does. And those scenes must be the roadmaps for birds when it comes to food in the neighborhood. It’s no wonder this Oregon Grape Holly always has tiny little birds in it. Just look at all those berries. It should help keep them well fed this winter.
Wilson: Every time we walk past those holly plants, a bunch of little birds fly out of it. I know I should be used to it, but they startle me, every single time. But I bravely walk on, training my eagle eyes on any possible squirrel sightings. Those two species seem to cohabitate well together. Though lord knows, I don’t get it.
The Mum: You know you have to calm down about squirrels. We need to work on your impulse control. This morning on our early walk, you were a little tightly wound, buddy.
Wilson: Erm, sorry, Mum. I could say I was startled by seeing this neighborhood pair of spiders but I don’t think you’d buy that.
The Mum: {chuckling} Nice try but you’re right…I’m not buying it. So what’s the game plan for your weekend? You ready to do some exploring in a different neighborhood to see what Nature has unrolled there?
Wilson: Oh yes, you know me, I’m always up for an adventure and if it involves a car ride, well…pencil me in! We hope you have a great weekend exploring your neighborhood and checking out signs of autumn. Make it a great one!
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Love the gorgeous autumn colours!
Thanks so much. It’s been a strange year for color-out broiling hot summer took a lot of oomph out of trees-way too many are just turning brown and falling. But it’s still a beautiful time of year. Hope Diwali has been special for you and your family.
Java Bean: “Ayyy, I can’t believe we missed National Pasta Day! And Mama and Dada are both mostly Italian, too!”
Sacrilego! Sorry your mum and dad missed National Pasta Day.
How beautiful!!! Our trees are also taking their time…and our backyard crab apple tree hasn’t even started it’s color changing yet. Silly trees!
Thanks. Silly trees but even siller Mother Nature! Not sure why she’s taking her sweet time ushering in autumn.
Our trees Are quite beautiful right now, but with a very rainy weekend, no chance as yet, trying to ‘capture’ any of them…
Those spiders are cute, but yikes if they were real, LOL!
Happy belated birthday to your sister!
Many thanks, Ingrid. You’re too kind. We had our first frost last night, I’m sure the leaves will start exiting soon.
Chester is not that happy about the Halloween inflatables in our neighborhood. Especially the ghosts hanging from the trees! Those colors are beautiful. And now it’s raining..😝
Thank you. It’s been windy here this week and I’m with Chester…those inflatables are flat creepy! We had our first frost last night so I’m guessing the leaves will start changing colors more or completly give up and fall. Time will tell. No rain in the forecast, but I can’t help but think we might just have some snow soon.
Belated birthday greetings! Thank you for sharing your lovely walk. The pictures are beautiful. I liked the comparison shots. I’ve been in a similar state on my walks – trees that didn’t seem to get the message on time. Still, when they do turn and shine brightly, we’ve no choice but to feel it was worth the wait. As for sniffs and snuffs, I remember those walks with the nose to the ground. It’s a lot of work sniffing and filing away all the memories.
Thanks, Dan. You’re always so kind with your comments. My sister had a wonderful birthday. This autumn has been slow rolling across the country it appears. We had our first frost last night so expect things to start rolling a bit faster. Snow a few days before Halloween is a possibility now but we’ll see.
Sniffing is one of the easiest and most effective strategies for wearing out a fur-baby.
On a windy day, Maddie would stand and sniff the wind (when she was supposed to be finding a place to pee) for such a long time.
Dogs tend to not do all that well multi-tasking. 🤣
“Remember why we came out here, Wilson!”
As if he’s listening. LOL
You’re right about the trees running late. We drove through a state park and the mountains on Rt 64 in GA and TN on the way home from Helen GA yesterday, and it’s still mostly the tops of the trees that have changes, and some specific types of trees. Our back yard is an example of the I’m giving up syndrome. We’ve already got a lot of dead brown leaves on the ground.
Those spides are cute (cause they’re not real) and our city is full of skeletons in various poses and activities right now. It’s fun to see. Have a great rest of the weekend!
Thanks. yeah Mother Nature is way behind today. Crabbish all summer and just flat stubborn now. Have fun raking up those leaves. 😉
I have neighbor kids… 😁
Lucky you. Because I’m old, all the neighbors are kids. And they all want to fund a lucrative trust. And that’s why I have to rake my own. LOL
LOL! Our neighbor kids take whatever I give them, and their Mom says I don’t have to give them anything, they’re happy to do it. (LOLOLOLOLOL!! I always give them SOMETHING!)
I’m jealous. Everyone in this neighborhood is either a Gen Z’er or their offspring and entitlement makes up most of their DNA. It’s one reason why I’m leaving this area.
Yikes! I didn’t know you were leaving. Where are you headed to? (Chattanooga is really nice!!)
It’s been in the works for a while. I’m staying in the area but moving to a quieter neighborhood. I’m trading the ranch for a barn. LOL
Hey, we stayed in a barn in Indiana a few months back. Boy, did the air B&B renters have it fixed up so nice you’d never have guessed it used to be a barn from the inside. Can’t wait to see your new digs.
Such gorgeous autumn colours 🤎🍂 sweet Wilson and we wish Terry the happiest of birthdays too 🎂
Aww, thanks so much, Xenia. You always leave such sweet comments. Hope you have a great weekend.
Oh we sure do hope your special Auntie has a fab birthday…..and WOWZERS on the beautiful Fall foliage. It took a while for us to see some pretty colors here but finally we have some. Those “bush spiders” are amazing – so clever! We don’t do a whole lot of decorating but we do have lights along our driveway that those plastic pumpkins fit right over so they light up the way for the trick or treaters!! BOO!
Hugs, Teddy and Mom Pam
Many thanks, Pam and Teddy. Some of the Flame Maples are finally strutting their stuff. And it’s about time. We almost always have a snow storm right before Halloween and it’d be a shame to miss out because they were slow to change. Hee. hee…bush spiders. LOVE it. Thought they were so doggone clever. Nearly missed them but glad I went back to take a pic. Have a great autumn weekend.
I love those spiders! Our foliage color is just starting. “They say” it won’t be as brilliant as usual this year because of a dry fall. We’ll see. We have one maple that defies the odds hanging onto it’s leaves until after Thanksgiving making the lawn raker annoyed!
Aren’t they adorably clever? Yeah, I think that’s why the colors have been so slow here too. A lot of leaves have just turned brown and fallen off. Lots of great crunching but sad that so many didn’t live up to their potential. I have a large silver maple that will hold on to its leaves sometimes as late as December. Bloody nuisance. And I can’t tell you how often I’ve shoveled snow mixed with leaves over the years. Have a great autumn weekend!
The mother and child picture is a treasure. That tree is pretty
Thank you. Thought it was appropo to show two beautiful women. And thanks for swinging by-we 💙 visitors.
OOH the fall leaves are gorgeous! Love your photos! Such a beautiful time of year!
Happy Birthday to your Aunt! What a great day to be born. My dad celebrated his 86th birthday today. 🙂 <3
Happy Weekend to you and Wilson have a wonderful weekend!
Thanks, Carolyn. There are still more green leaves than colorful ones but it’s slowly looking more like fall. Happy (belated) birthday to your Dad! We hope you have a splendid autumn weekend.
Getting together with my sisters and parents so I will! 🧡Thanks!
Outstanding! Have a great time.
Happy Birthday to your auntie!! I love those spiders- very clever.
Thanks for the birthday wishes. Aren’t those spiders clever? And they seem pretty easy to duplicate. 😉
AUTUMN! Say it loud! Woooooooooohooooooooooooo!
Those are big time contrasts going on inside the same capture. Summer holding on but fall kicking things off in a most grand fashion. Upstaging summer, actually, what with those bold colors. So good.
Wilson is enjoying the smells and mama is enjoying the sights. It’s win meeting win!
Happy birthday to your mum’s sister and have a great weekend!
Aww, thanks, Marc. You always leave the sweetest comments. We’re loving the crisp morning air (low 40’s) and sunshiny days. Gawd, I love this time of year! Here’s wishing you the kind of autumn weekend that’s simply dreamy.
It was and is and will continue to be pleasant goings as the temps are looking good for the next week and change. Bring it on, bring more of it on!
I could live with this kind of weather 365, truth be told. And I continue to remind myself to savor it…The week of Halloween tends to throw shade in the form of cold white stuff on things. It almost makes you feel badly for trick-r-treaters. Almost.
Hahahaha!
Yeah I could go for this weather all the time as well. It’s just right now . . however . . .
A fabulous walk, Monika and Wilson. Those tree photos were spectacular. I wish we could get some color around here. I know Twiggy and Tempest get a lot of good out of sniffing, and it is what dogs are supposed to do. I hope your weekend is terrific.
So glad you enjoyed this week’s saunter around the ‘Hood. Sniffing is the best energy depleter for dogs; I use that first with any anxious dog! Here’s hoping your weekend is full of amazing sniffs.
Wilson: I just went to the mailbox to get the mail and when I returned to the house with it, after I set it down the grapes on the grocery store ad “moved.” Spider! So…now I sit down at the computer and see these giant spiders. I like the ones in your picture way more than the one crawing across the kitchen counter. I am sure Mum’s sister appreciates all those digital smoochies. That one tree really “got the message” and tried to catch up, didn’t it? A happy Fall weekend to you and everyone at the Ranch, Wilson!
Oh my gosh…don’t they know it’s illegal to tamper with the mail?! LOL Let’s hope your weekend is spider free and beautiful.
Gorgeous flaming maples! Nature provides a nice long foliage show through various species turning at different times, leaving the oaks ’til last. I like how even the perennials get in on the act.
I think those spiders are clever, at least there was creativity involved. 🙂 Have a great weekend!
Thanks, Eliza. I thought they were brilliantly clever. Those kinds of displays always peak my attention. So much more than the neighbor who has every outdoor Halloween decoration displayed every year in his front yard (he’s the same guy who does all the blowups for all the other holidays. They’ve got to have a large storage shed to house all those. His front yard is so cluttered with skellies of all manner and size. Your eyes can’t take it all in there are so many! We hope you have a fantastic autumn weekend with a few gorgeous Flame Maples. 😉
Very clever decorations! Looks like colors are peaking in Denver!
They’re starting but truthfully, there as more green trees around than those where they’ve started to change. Gotta start somewhere, eh? Have a colorful and pleasant weekend!
Those spiders!
I thought they were so cleverly brilliant. And likely easy to make! Here’s hoping you have a marvelous weekend, Helen.
Gorgeous beautiful foliage! Our leaves have barely turned. Many are still shriveled green…some gave up, dried out and dropped some of their leaves. That is a first for my town. I’m usually out with my camera for foliage shots. Not now.
Thanks, Carole. Trust me…if you saw how many trees are still green or quite often brown, you’d understand how truly spectacular the few flame maples are. There are still some green Honey Locust trees with splashes of gold. This autumn the trees are so stressed and color production has been downright pitiful. We hope you have a colorful autumn weekend!
We’re in Ohio this week for competitions and their leaves are just starting to change. We love the bright red leaves the best. Those spiders are super fun for Halloween. Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Birthday to Terry!
Thanks for the birthday wishes-my little sister appreciates all the digital wishes. We thought those spider ‘bushes’ were just too clever. Have a great time in Ohio-hope you are able to enjoy some changing leaves in between competitions.