Autumn in Southern Illinois

Illumination of Blackberry leaves creates a rainbow through the woodland.

A lovely walk down the leaf strewn path was like a parade on each side with the colors of the remaining foliage glistening in the evening sun.

It has been a difficult 6 weeks waiting for our camera to be repaired. I did take some photos with our Olympus and these are the pictures that depict the last few weeks in southern Illinois. As always, I can't resist taking pictures of hay bales. Although I am more of a fan of the older, smaller rectangular bales, still the large round ones are beautiful too.

Farmers are still struggling to harvest their crops, as witnessed by the corn below. I love to see the corn and the textures of the stalks, tassels, silks and blades. Childhood memories of being raised on the farm, and watching the harvest flood my mind as I examine and recall the intricate beauty of God's creation.

As you can see, we have an abundance of leaves, which is great for our compost pile. And the effort it takes to get them there is great for our exercise routine! Gets us moving and off the couch. I am to report that we do have many of them blown around the trees, raked, and moved to their designated places.

Here you can see Leon doing some of our leaf-management. No that's not smoke, it is dust! There was sooo much dust in the leaves, which is strange with all the rain we have had, but guess it is partly leaf-mold. Anyway, when we work in them, we have found that a mask is good for filtering the air.

After all this hard work, we needed a break, so we went to Carlyle Lake and checked on the wildlife. Saw this beautiful great blue heron fishing on the western shoreline. He was very cooperative, and beautiful. I surely wished I had my other camera!

The west access at Carlyle had very high water, and there were lots of gulls enjoying the misty, gray afternoon. They were waiting for a hand-out and using the handrail for a perch. It was such a wet, foggy day that it reminded me of New England.

When all the dust has settled, and all the rain has cleared, look up!!! This is the vision of bright hope and beauty, as the limb-sculptures frame the magnificent blue sky and the motion of the drifting white clouds forms a motion-picture, unmatched by any theater screen. It is a reminder to keep looking up--keep the faith, count our blessings and Give Thanks!!

Ahhhh, A New Month!!!

Thankful for all our Blessings

After many, many inches of rain and no sunshine in sight for weeks, we made it through October and it is now the Bountiful month of November.

Just last week I snapped this picture out our back door of the windsock blowing in the rain. I have been recovering from a sore throat and swallowing antibiotics around the clock for 10 days. It has been a gray month. I am ready for the opportunity to plant a few bulbs, so I can look forward to those spring blooms emerging. It is so exciting to see that first color burst through the snow as the crocus pop up.

I snapped a quick picture from the front porch, in between rain drops, as the vibrant red Japanese maple leaves fell and covered the ground. So quickly and silently the branches became bare and new carpet was spread all over our woodland floor. I longed to capture more moments and scenes from the autumn of 2009, but with our camera still away being repaired, I have been limited to our backup camera. Looking forward to our photo club meeting this week and getting back to paint class with the ladies. Thinking of Thanksgiving, family together, and blessings galore makes November a time of heartfelt thanks.