It is November!

In the past, I've complained about November and the time between the gorgeous fall colorful leaves and the ick yuck of barren trees. However this year I intend to find a way to enjoy it visually. Miss Aurora said I needed to go out and find the beauty of November for there was a lot to see.

Okay. I'm in on this. The month of November will be a search for beauty in this time of the year. I'm committed. What will I look for? Fungi? Tiny things? Landscapes? Skylines? Moss? 

Nature's Artwork that we don't see when the leaves are full?

I'm going out on a mission to find beauty in November.

There is something to be said to be able to go out and enjoy the sunrise and the brilliant colors of the morning. Especially since the sun comes up at such a reasonable time these days!

There is still time to get out and take a nice walk before the weather turns...

or just get outside and enjoy some nature.

I'm determined to find things I like about this brownish-russet season.

It will be a change in my thinking but I'll give it a try.

Pretty and Fleeting ...

I thought we were not going to have much in the way of Fall Colors this year. In September the trees were turning and the undergrowth in the forest was dying off due to our drought. We've been getting rain since then and it seems the trees made a recovery and are now on schedule with bright and beautiful colors.

I think they are just showing off after such a tough year.

I like to take my photos of the leaves from under the trees in full sunlight. I use the sun to light up the leaves and make them glow with color. This past week I was limited in the morning by pet chores so I didn't get my usual morning shots. 

But this is what I did find and I am satisfied with it.

I like standing in the shadows of the trees and finding spots of light. I guess this has just how I liked to see things this year.

Apparently, according to the Leaf Color chart, our area is at 95%. I'd call it a full peak of color right now.

Of course I hope to get out this weekend and enjoy some of those colors in one of our county parks or perhaps a state park.

Crazy on Trees

Twisted Sister Tree.
she dances to her

own desires...

I was walking along the run off ditch that was created many years ago on the west side of our place. The farm west of us and our place used to be one.

At some point in time, someone dug a 'ditch' for water to run from off the hillsides. That way it didn't wash out portions of the pasture. Neat twisted and odd looking boxelders stand on each side of the ditch as if they were watching over it.

I was looking to see if I could find the same exact spot I'd taken a photo of last March on a spooky foggy day. 

I have no idea why, except I thought it would be fun to tromp through the snow early in the morning and see if I could find where that exact spot was. 

I did find the spot and in the bright snow and early sunlight, it was rather unimpressive.

Instead I looked around and found another interesting tree.

I am assuming that this tree is what is we locals call a scrub apple tree. Thorny and nasty, the trunks are generally gnarled and bizarre. Somehow they survive and blossom each spring.

Embracing One's

inner elf

is harmonious

The Ditch Guardian
wise, old,

gnarled, yet still

alive.

The trail in the middle of the photo runs alongside the ditch and all year there is a worn trail from each animal that inhabits these woods. The cattle in the summer and everything else in the winter. I'm fairly sure that the Guardian Tree is a boxelder also. The dead parts hang over the trail, the live parts twist and grow to the west.

I wonder, if this tree could talk, what would it tell me about the floods it has seen, the animals it has observed, and does it laugh at the humans who try to control nature's whims?

Be Like A Tree

Stay grounded and true

to yourself...

This is the same tree from last year! Just seen on a foggy morning. It still looks like it is dancing to me. ~~~ The Twisted Sister

My all time favorite tree.

Comfort tree

rest under my

branches or

climb them...

and find a 

secret place...

Another view of this tree 

I think I'm going to spend some more time looking just for interesting tree shapes before spring arrives and changes everything.