Thursday, October 23, 2008

Leaving summer

It is autumn, and I am busy. Very, very busy. But not too busy to get out to the local Conservation Area a couple of weekends ago, to take a look at the fall colours. They're legendary around here - maples in bright golds, oranges, reds. The only problem is, that like the other in-between season (spring, that is), autumn only lasts for about a week here. Case in point - it snowed yesterday.

So you have to be quick. Quick, if you want to see those maples exploding in orange against a brilliant blue sky, fluffy white clouds floating by, the air crisp and cold and scented with wood smoke:

Maple and sky, Kortright Centre

Or the riot of colour over the marshlands:

wetland and autumn colours

Or the local wildlife, doing its best to compete with the foliage for your attention:

dragonfly, eyeing me up

Or those yellows - those glorious, glorious yellows, a last gasp before winter's blinding whites and drab greys set in:

Aaaaaaah F355 Berlinetta...

Whoops, sorry about that. Not sure how that one slipped in there.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, the Ferraris are still outside playing before the arrival of the bad weather (snow for you, rain for those of us on the Wet Coast). Then they are confined to their garages till more Ferrari-friendly weather returns. Another sign of approaching winter for me is my significant other starting his usual talk of "I really need to find a cheap winter car this year. I can't drive the Porsche in all that rain again!"

Richard Wintle said...

Heh. I suggest a Porsche Carrera 4 or 4S - you know, the ones with all-wheel-drive.

Sorry, that may not have been helpful. ;)

#Debi said...

Wow, that looks like a very expensive school bus...

Nice photos!

Unknown said...

Great pictures, the trees are nice too!

Anonymous said...

When over in Canada last month, I went to Dorset. The leaves were a sight to beholden. Here in the Olde Worlde, we've also had some spectacular colors. I believe this is because we had a heavy frost (temps well below 32 or zero in new money) a couple of weeks back. The weather people tell me it is because we had such a wet summer. My cousin-in-law Rita in Toronto agrees with me. She knows more about the weather and nature than all of these TV 'experts'.
To all you Ferrari and Porche fans, get a Morris 1000 is what I say.
As Debi said, great pics Ricardipus.

#Debi said...

Aled: For the record, you and the weather people are both right. We learned in science class (oh, so many years ago) that it is the combination of the cool and the wet that triggers the color change in the leaves. Down here, we've not really had enough of either to make it noteworthy this year.

wv: enesse--Quebec lake monster

Joy said...

Beautiful foliage! Autumn is my favorite season.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Debi. Always glad to learn, and to stop being so hard on weather people! When I lived in St. Petersburg, Florida, I swear that the weather forecasters used to look out of the window, and then get paid thousands to tell us, the proletariat, that it was going to rain in 10 minutes. As they were 10 minutes away from my humble abode, it was usually raining already.
BTW, there is a company in Turkey called Enesse. Maybe they couldn't spell Tennessee....

Joy said...

I read some of your earlier posts, Ricardipus, and was glad to learn that you also use the Oxford comma. I believe in them and taught it to my students when I was an English teacher.

Did you get the email I sent? Sometimes they go into a black hole in cyberspace.

#Debi said...

Hey, I've tagged you over at my place...

Richard Wintle said...

Aled - a Morris 1000 you say? Can I drop a Ferrari 360 Modena engine in it?

Joy - yup, you've got mail.

Debi - hm, so I see...