November and beginnings of Winter

 So here we go winter seems to be upon us and in Canada we start with a snow storm but looking back on the month it is amazing the variety of weather that we have had

The first thing with November of course is the throw to the kerb for poor old pumpkins!

Quite a lot of work goes into these

Some more appealing than others!!!

We get some lovely evening skies. I like the two birds way up high!

Such a bright day

and a little chickadee 

Black squirrel! He looks a little annoyed at me

The leaves are really piling up! These have to be gone before the snow comes. Spoiler, they didn't remove them in time!

The gingko was an amazing show this year and they dropped beautifully

What really stunned me was the fruits on the trees

Totally  ladened with fruit, just never seen anything like that

Bright colours are still about. Just so rich

And then a slight drop in temperature and the leaves off this gingko have dropped

And this maple too, dropped an absolute carpet

But night after night we got the lovely pink skies

Still with a little bit of autumn colour and that lovely pinky glow

Love these pompoms on the trees

I especially like the yellow leaves hanging on

Beautifully contrasting with this white house. Think the house is from the 20's

OOh that's a mean pumpkin. He was put up a tree!

I have never seen a yellow one carved before and these guys haven't yet made it to the kerb

Now that's a riot!

There's that lovely little white house again and an amazing cloudy sky. 

Literally ripples of pink across the sky, that really is a rare sight

At this time of year, this cotton candy plant (Milk weed?) are just floaty and delicate

A bit if an oasis in our city

Such a magical place

River windy

and a low sun. I am making the most of that

Then winter!

My poor snoopy pumpkin

This maple leaf looks like it is trapped in ice. It was caught under a big layer of slushy ice

This picture was taken at night in front of a church with help of a street light. The yellowed windows and the yellow leaves catching my eye

So many animal tracks in the back garden

Soon the snow has gone and we have bright blue skies again

Berries on plants

But we all know that there is more snow to come. November was rather lovely in the end and now we are into December we huddle up a little more and find cosy spaces. 

For now my little choir are a point of light. They brighten those dark mornings. It's just a few more weeks and the days will start to be longer!

Autumn/ Fall

Oooh the gathering of the blackbirds (actually rooks and jackdaws in the Isle of Man) The sky felt thick with them. This is a blog that has both Isle of Man Autumn and Fall in Canada too. I di hope you like seeing the colors

I really was fascinated with vines on buildings this year and I found this house near mine on the Island. The fascination and admiring of this look for me culminated in having a house covered with them, that house had the worse forms of damp ever, dry rot and rising damp. So I wonder as I admire the greenery and turning shades, does this make all buildings with vines have damp? It is so very beautiful and on a breezy day the buildings vegetation shimmers

This is a plant they also have in Canada, this one is in Port Erin Isle of Man and splendid

Mushrooms on the heather, just causally growing and minding their own

At home some 2 weeks have past and the trees are in full fall colors

It is a riot of color everywhere, the trunks and branches look black! My walk to work can be ponderous as I try to take it all in

There are just so many shades

The streets are full of these amazing natures colour show

But the amount of leaves is always a wonder. The leaf litter! just such a spectacle

Multicolored pavements

And my favorite of them all the Gingko

I just love this tree in fall. The shape of the leaves and the shades of yellow, chartreuse and green all there

I went with Lily to the Elora Gorge and there were people slack lining, leaving us slack jawed!!! I mean that is super high up there

The water was so low and we were right down there, the stairs seemed doable on the way down, the way up finished me off and I felt that in the quads for 3 days!!!!

Glorious vines madam!!! I mean that is just a riot of autumn colors and shades, (damp?)

This is one of my favorite combos, Maple and Gingko together

They are splendid trees 

Radiant Gingko

Where road, pavement and garden blend with a thick covering of leaf

So on my annual hut for the Gingko, I see that these are female trees and they have so many fruit on them. I have been annually looking at this particular row of Gingko's and not noticed the fruit before!

This one has the fruit high up in the branches, like apricot lights decorating the trees

On a dull day Gingko's give such light!

The light playing with the colour of the changing leaves is always mesmerizing and this morning with the blue sky and the angle of the light, the area under leaf seems to glow

It is the contrast of colors that is also rather lovely, the white house being the perfect backdrop for the bright red Japanese Maple

Mornings can be specular, the flame bush on the right hand side just this last week started to turn it's wonderous red

and those pinky morning clouds, just wow

I also love the wet days and how the leaves decorate the side walks

Yes there is a side walk there

The mirror finish of the tarmac and the road makes it look like the road is a body of water and the leaves are resting on the surface

And what do you know, I found these tomatoes on someone's vegie patch ! I didn't know there were black tomatoes!

Another image that always fills me with wonder, is that of the light falling on the telegraph wires on an autumn early evening. The sun is low and it shines on these lines, so regimented but somehow rather beautiful. I often see this on roads here and also when I lived in the US and as I would be driving you can't take a picture but could this evening as I was on foot, at just the right time of day, in just the right place

And more fab vines on buildings

Hedge becoming the gathering place for Gingko leaves, you can also see in the left of the picture those shining wires! that I so admire

People clearing their grass of leaves and leaving it on the road for the massive hoover machine that will come and clear them away

All the streets but mine do this, so this is an envy picture! I have to put my leaves in bags, as we don't have that hoover truck on our road and the road is too busy and a highway...so no leaves can be piled

All the leaves from the Gingko and Maple have fallen on this property and they make a lovely carpet of color

This Gingko is still resplendent

Vivid Japanese Maples as the sun goes down

 Happy Pumpkin Season and Halloween from me and Snoopy! ( this was purchased at a famers market, and no I didn't paint it). At $10 he had to come home with me!!!