Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Just Last Week

 This is probably the last Monarch that will be visiting me this year.
Saw it just last week!



Seems like it was just last week....that the straight and curvy trees
were dressed in summer's green.






All the small white mushrooms have now turned brown
on all the dead trees and logs lying on the ground.




Spooky October images are easy to see...
On my walks....I found two in the trees!
The large funny rock makes my count three.
But...it was given to me...by my son Steve! 



The cute happy face belonged with all these whites. 
So did the hairy seed pod and the caterpillar with spikes.
That's one of five puffballs in front of my shoe...
and a little brown snail on a capsized mushroom.



More loveliness in White!
Bronson and Amanda will be married 4 months on November 2nd.
November 2nd for her Grampa and I ...will be "48" years!!!
After visiting her family here just this past week...
Today....Amanda returned to Washington State.

~enlarges~



The state of my field and yard is changing....
slowly but surely....the white flowers are fading....





.... leaves and acorns are falling....
the deer are foraging constantly it seems....
they know a change is coming!



My favorite paths and hillsides are carpeted brown.



I come acoss all shapes and shades of brown on my walks.
Saw a golden honey-like liquid on a web-like growth!




Sometimes....coming out of the woods after a walk....
I startle the deer....seen below....tail up....racing off.




Soon bcause of hunting season....
my walks will be limited to the field for awhile.
There are paths around the perimeter
and through the middle....down to the barn.  
Just beyond the scarlet tree in the corner....  



....lies an old cemetery of the 1800's.




I always pass the cemetery....
after walking under my favorite wild cherry tree....
on my way down the drive to Granddaughter Alivia's house.




Sometimes on my walks there...I take a shortcut over
a small wooden bridge.
It's another area I can walk in during hunting season.
The paths make a circle and go between these 
two large old Oak trees. 





Near the Oak trees just last week...I discovered this grouping
 of mushrooms....like a secret Fairy Land.



On one very early morning walk....
I saw Alivia and a friend swinging....maybe even before their breakfast!
Alivia traced and colored the picture, which we sent to Amanda...
whom she loves and misses.
Alivia has now joined the Girl Scouts and they do fun things...
like camping out in cabins and will visit a pumpkin farm soon.





Just capturing the night moon, clouds in the sky,
a leaf speared by a blade of grass,
the colors of Autumn and a heart shape in the trees.




The colors of Autumn were very pronounced...
out behind the house just a week ago!





The season puts me in the mood for stuffing, salmon, squash...
rice, noodles, baked potatoes, cole slaw with apples, stirfries and fish!



I make large batches of breakfast muffins...
and freeze them for long term use.
Chocolate coated marshmallows, cranberries and almonds 
fill an ice bucket and apple crisp is eaten warm from the oven.
See the triple layer whoopie pie...looks larger than it was...
but it was eaten by Granddaughter Katie!
Mine was only 2 layers of chocolate....but it was GOOD!


This is Katie and her boyfriend Mitch....
Katie lives just over the hill and through the woods....
that's a younger Katie under the no hunting sign in our woods.
I also made a younger 'her' pose in a tree stump once.
Mitchell is entering the U.S. Air Force in November.
Katie is going to college to become a nurse!
She eats lunch with us about twice a week.





The grandkids are growing and changing just like the woods.
The Summer greens have quickly turned to Autumn golds.




The winds are blowing....the leaves are falling....
and the ornamental grasses sway....




...and I'm enjoying what I may!



~~ Happy Autumn ~~

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Last Photos of Summer

A recent morning we woke to a foggy mist with deer crossing the drive.
I took a short walk toward the old cemetery as the sun broke through.



On my return it cast a warm glow on yellowing leaves above the field....
where the deer stood watching me. 



The tall grass was too wet for me to venture in....
....so I took photos from the drive.
The windmill was a gift from my mother fifteen years ago.
Notice the delicate spider webs in the grass..



By noon the scene of misty rays changed to a sunny day. 



After lunch I walked to the field, while Herhusband went for the mail.
We mow paths, but the deer make their own, you can see where they have been resting and walking. 



The field is thick with Blue Mist Flowers and Field Asters.
There are a few Great Blue Lobelia here and there. 


~ Great Blue Lobelia ~


The wildflowers attract numerous Butterflies!



The Eastern Phoebe on the fence rail searches for small insects.
Caterpillars, bees and spiders are also in the field with the Goldenrod.
The pink Butterfly Bush and the blue Hydrangea are in the yard and
the small Blue Asters are found in the shady woods.



The large blue Goodyear Blimp flew directly over the house again....
the second time this summer.
Enlarge to see  the U.S.A. Flag trailing behind.



Can't count the times Granddaughters Katie and Alivia drop in.
After walking in the woods with us....I usually walk Alivia home.



We can hardly wait for Granddaughter Amanda's visit in a few weeks.
Her Brother Nathan just returned home after a visit of 2 weeks....
....with the recently married Amanda and Bronson.




I really don't cook all that much....if you look closely....
you'll see it's just pasta dressed different ways and even....
leftovers are made into salads.  Baked potatoes and squash with apples
are fast and easy to make....if microwaved first...then browned. 



Lots of fruit and Greek yogurt with whole grains....
 balances the sweet consumption of Coconut Cherry Cake.



Taking a walk in the woods to photograph fungi helps too. 



All the deer are slowly changing from a brownish to grayish shade....
so far only one of the twins has lost its spots.
They gather out front to eat the acorns.



Other photos were taken of a rusty circle of barbed wire...
2 giant puffballs, chipmunk, eyes of a log crocodile, hole in
a hickory nut made by a squirrel...fungi on logs...
a squirrel's 'mushroom meal leftovers' on a post...
"a raccoon's tail ? found by the drive"...
a cute knothole...a partially eaten acorn...
" a slug in the R of FOREVER"
a long standing dead tree...more fungi and a box turtle!



Summer has left many things to view.....
The field and its wildflowers will soon fade.



The Hummingbirds have already left.....



Autumn Colors are taking their place.



Thank you to everyone that takes time to look at Moments of Mine.
I hope to have shorter...but more frequent posts in the future.
They are a little lonnnnng lately aren't they?

~ Wanda ~

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Greens and Browns

My flower garden hasn't looked this good for several years...
I blame our moody weather...it's either too wet or too dry.


Greens and browns set the scenes here this time of year.
Some trees are heavily draped with wild grapes vines...
and after the deer eat the lower leaves of a walnut tree...
a few green walnuts always hang low and exposed.



This time of year the sunrays find the hammock!



...and the brown Carolina Wren finds the sun.


Brown and Green again....
I found this 'Giant' Praying Mantis in the field....
and a little greenish tree frog has been living in a birdhouse on the porch
....for a week now!



More green and brown (plus a little white) fungi and seed heads.



The little deer family still visit often....
they even use the path through the tall browning grass of the field.
Enlarge the photo and you can see their footprints on the dewy path.
I followed them....but they quickly disappeared.



The Bluebirds are always surveying the field and are turning browner too.
I always pass the staring eyes of Mr. Oak Tree on my way to the field.


I walk behind him if I'm going to the swing under the Walnut tree.


It's green views from that swing this time of year...
No colorful flowers in the garden in the far distant left...
or Lily-of-the-Valley under the lower right tree. 



One cloudy day a large brown buck meandered through
 the Blackberry Lily....while eating a few seeds.


Close behind was a slightly smaller friend!
The males never stay long.
The garden needs some cutting and cleaning.



Herhusband has been cutting and cleaning up trees out back.
I managed to capture one tree in it's fall....He claims to have purposely
made it land on the stump!



Herhusband cleaned the outside of my computer room windows.
You can see the blue of the ladder he needed to use.
They're too high up for me to do...my part is the windows inside


Laundry I do on my own...it hangs outside on the days that are dry.
There 'is' a little blue amongst the green and brown.



Alivia walked down one day with yellow in her hair...
another day she wore pink hearts while riding her purple bike.
Her blue eyes and rosy cheeks brighten my day often!



At least I have a few colorful meals to post...
but actually I do see a lot of brown and green mixed in with the...
salads, baked chicken, stuffed zucchini, potato salad, ravioli,
mushroom soup, veg. soup, parmesan couscous & fish.


Desserts were blueberry crisp, banana walnut cake,
orange-chocolate chip-cranberry bread, peaches,
Greek yogurt with blueberry bread and sugar melon.



It's been raining here for a few days now.
It's been awhile since I saw the sun...
and the last time it wasn't very bright.


Maybe tomorrow I'll wake to a Sunshine Day!


 Bye For Now
~♥ Wanda ♥~