The Quiet Places Where the Seasons Change

Hi!

All of you know by now that I take walks and purposely look at things that others might find ... er...boring?  Sometimes I think I've forgot the smaller things that fill in pictures of the vast Rockies or the shores of the Great Lakes.  I'm lucky that I live where I do, because there is so much to see and take note of, no matter what its physical size.
The Great Autumn Housecleaning is being conducted by birds stuffing themselves with seeds and insects, building up fuel for the flight south, groundhogs chomping through grasses, building layers of fat to hold them through their hibernation, humans laying in the harvest, horses beginning to think about their winter coats.  And the flowers of autumn, no matter where they are (in garden or field) are flinging on their glad rags before the onset of the Grand Silence over the winter.  And there is so much to see!

Yep, started off with a very strange looking tree branch.  I have no idea whether the branch was trained to grow this way, although that would seem to be the case.  But I had to take a couple of pictures of it...

Ooops, I forgot to tell you.  I am walking down Edgemere Drive, which, as its name indicates, runs along Lake Ontario, separated from the lake by a small waterway.  Instead of heading toward Cranberry or Long Pond, I'm going due East, past Buck's Pond.

On the South Side of Edgemere, the cattails and their tall grasses swayed and tossed in a strong wind off the Northeast over the Lake.  I could hear the roar of the Lake in the background but couldn't see it across the inland waterway and the orderly march of lakeside homes right on the shore.  But, then, I didn't need to:  the NorthEast or Northwest Wind makes the Lake grumpy and it roars...

On the North Side of the Road, each homeowner has used his or her imagination to the fullest, sometimes falling back on flowers from a nursery, sometimes pretending to control the riot of wild grasses and plants.  The result is far from predictable  (and a lot of fun.  Why would someone put this there?  That sort of question springs to mind).

The technical name for this pile of rocks varies with the builder.  It's a means of marking a trail or a boundary or just a stopping point on a journey.  The Inuit call it an inuk.   I wonder if the owner built this, and, if so, what it means.  Was it purchased?  Did it come home after the property owner visited the Northern Territories in Canada?  The questions a pile of stone can elicit are many indeed!  (Snickers evilly at the thought of people wondering...)

This owner decided to trim a plot of wild growth so that it looked as if it had been specially planted.  Pretty ingenious and a great way of cutting down mowing!

Until I saw these tomatos (which are about all that was left in this garden), I had forgot that I was walking along the rear line of everyone's property and snapping pictures of their back yards.  There are still quite a few tomatoes left on the vine - we haven't had a killer front, so the tomatoes keep right on showing up.

You know me - trees are the grand personalities of a place (I know, I know, some people actually think it's the house:  let 'em keep their illusions.)

There were still planters out - seeing one metal post decorated and the next one rusted and standing quite naked, I started wondering (again!  What IS it with you, Cunningham?).  What were the poles originally?  Did the same homeowner own both of them? 

This is an old, bottom of the back yard fence and the plants that the owner set there.  The wood looks tired, but the fence is in pretty decent shape.  I guess back fences don't need to be painted and I'm kinda fond of the soft, grey color of the posts.

This is growing over another section of the fence.  I want to say that it's holly, but I may be way out in left field.  The leaves are changing color and there were some immature berries on the plant.


The North Side of the road is beautiful, and I'll be back in a week or so when the firebushes are more into fall mode.  But now I'm turning to the South side of the road.  Here the wild things have their way.  I'm going to put some pictures in and not comment too much.  Except to say that the small things are well worth the searching out.

This is staghorn sumac, just barely beginning to change color.  We'll keep an eye on it.

And behind it all, the great reeds and grasses of the edges of Buck's Pond (and every pond and inlet around these parts) hold sway.  They're considerably taller than I am by this time of year. 

This green marks the small wooded plot between the edge of the pond and Long Pond Road.  Here autumn hasn't made as much headway, although exposed branches are beginning to change color.  My car is parked in a tiny lot on the northwest corner of Long Pond and Edgemere, across from the Fire House.

Even here, there are dots of deep orange and splashes of yellow. 

It dawned on me that I hadn't taken pictures of the waterway (actually, I think, a man-made one) between the houses on the shore of Lake Ontario and the North edge of Edgemere Dr.  Here are a couple of shots.

My car is about three feet off of the right side of the picture.  It was being shy, so I didn't take its picture...

And there we have a wandering from 092311.  The trees haven't begun their real changes yet, although some of the early ones are shedding the green of summer...

But I wanted to look again at the things that we don't always have a chance to see.  (I'm like that...).  I hope you enjoyed!  P.S., I still owe you the rest of York Minster, and I know that.  I also need to continue the tour of Genesee Country Museum...ah the joys of having all this to talk about!  Lucky YOU!!!!! 

Hugs to you all and best wishes for a bright, long autumn!