Week 9:52 of a Year in Pictures (Oct 31 - Nov 6)

One month fades into another as October gives way to November. I lost my battery charger for a week, so when my camera died I had to wait to get it up and running again until I decided just where I'd hid the damn thing!! I've been taking walks at work over my lunchtime, a nice break from being stuck inside all day. My photos this week are all from my lunchtime walks, bright spots in my days.

Saturday 31st - Nature’s Streamers

I went for a walk at lunchtime today. It was really quiet on the grounds, I didn’t pass a single other person out in the cool air. The colours at this time of the year have changed from bright shades to the more earthy tones. Everything coloured by a palette of muted yellows, browns and greens. At first glance things only look pale, dying, but on closer inspection there are brighter colours underneath. This afternoon I was seeking out the place where the deer slept, and on the way I found these beautiful stalks of prairie grass. I grew up on the prairies, and I have never seen them before! They reminded me of the little flag streamers you can tie on the antenna of the car, or tie to the branches of a tree so that you can see what is otherwise invisible... the wind.

Sunday 1st - Stumpy Shrooms

It’s really beautiful the way nature makes something come of nothing. This stump was cut long ago, and now mushrooms grow anew on top of it, the browns, oranges and yellows beautiful against the gray of the stump.

Monday 2nd - Little Ladies

I set out today to look at the different patterns in the bark on all the trees around the grounds. We are really lucky at work as they put so much care in the design of the grounds, from the trees and flowers to the paths and trails. The bark on the different trees has some beautiful designs, some from the chipping away of time and age, some from the nervous picking of anxious patients. I took a lot of pictures of the trees, and so many of them were beautiful, I got lost in the different patterns (and made myself lat from lunch!). My favourite discovery, which had me giddy like a child... ladybugs!

Tuesday 3rd - Bound Tumbler

I am enjoying my walks at lunchtime. Usually I have no idea what I’m going to try to capture, and this was one of those days. I hadn’t really found anything and my time was running out (lunch was almost over!) and I was literally jogging back to my office when this little weed caught my eye. I love the way the slender stalk explodes into the wild top, brightly lit against the darkened autumn sky, just waiting to be freed from the ground so it can tumble across the yard.

Wednesday 4th - Orange Bough

On my walk today I decided to try and pay attention to beauty and change in transformation. The branch on this pine is dying. It has cracked from the big branch, the green gone from all but the very tips of the needles... turning from red, to orange, and then finally a yellow green before they fall to the ground.

Thursday 5th - Up, up, up

I couldn’t decide whether to use the dark photo, or the one lit by the flash. Each photo I like for different reasons, so both of them are here.

I liked these little branches, stretching up from the ground, like skinny fingers reaching for the sky, up, up, up to the bare branches hung overhead.

Friday 6th - Kickin’ Fun

Kicking through the leaves is one of the small pleasures of Fall, which I still do as though I were 5 years old. It’s one that is almost over for the year as the leaves are swept away by the wind, to be buried by the snow. I never would have thought before about how difficult it is to take a picture of myself, my foot no less, disturbing the peacefulness of the woods, kicking up leaves. Perhaps next time if I have my tripod I can try again, to capture the moment, but this is it for now. And besides, for me, it still captures the feelins in my heart as it happens, bringing me back.