September hues

 So here we are and Autumn has well and truly arrived and we have all these lovely colours and I am talking the Isle of Man. Amazing when you spend time away from something and then when you see it again, after the time has elapsed, it is brand new for you. I had totally forgotten that the island had colour in Autumn! But being here it is so vibrant in all the colours and the flowers are blooming and the leaves are doing the curly thing. There is leaf colour but it is the hill sides that change colour as the bracken (ferns) turn brown. The Hawthorn trees in the hedgerow now have berries and they are the deepest dark red. The hawthorns are amazing, and they form lines in the hedgerow. Not forgetting the most amazing display from the hydrageas, they are such deep shades here and the tinging of green. Then of course the verdant green of the hillside and grass, all for contrast.

A lovely late summer evening in Stratford Ontario

And a monarch butterfly on a Buddleia (butterfly bush). 

They are so beautiful and they fly all the way to Mexico!  

nighttime mushrooms

and cheery sunflowers

This has to be best door to no where ever! 

Flying over the Calf of Man, at the most southerly point of the Isle of Man

Just wow. Look at those colours

This is so rare a blue flower! believe me, 

we never get them in Waterloo Canada at this time of the year. 

But here on the island hydrangeas are all shades, in varying intensities.

Storm coming

So much green on the island

I managed to snap this from the bus! In the centre of the picture, 

is the Witches Mill, as we knew it. 

It used to scare us a lot! 

Castletown and it's castle. Again this is a bus shot!

I pulled into a layby for this one. 

This hill side seen so many times over my life time, 

just captured me, the shape against that wonderful sky. 

The bracken really giving such a warm brown.

The curve of the road is also rather lovely. 

Maybe that's why I like this image, the sweep of the hill and the sweep of the road.

They really take hedge trimming seriously here, 

you could use this hedge as a table

Magic! ruby red

This little friend was at my feet on a path. 

Just minding their own business and sniffing about

and the crows and jackdaws lifted and wheeling by the wind

The storm been and the seaweed washed up. 

Although really this is mid storm. 

It looks so bright and shiny

Nasturtiums by the sea

Manx yard bombing. I just love the googly eyes 

Getting ready for Halloween or maybe a witch lives here all the time

Butterflies on the Isle of Man! wow, and it's a red admiral. 

There were two but they kept moving!

That would be a storm and us driving past it!  

The window was up and water on it 

but you can still see that heavy sea 

and the huge white of the waves

The weather can get very wild on the island but you always feel safe. 

and what says Autumn more than a handful of conkers!!! Fabulous

Geraniums and sunsets

Those are hawthorns trees and their berries. 

Hard to get these shots as the hedgerows are hard to get to. 

This was taken from the car, as a passenger I hasten to add!

The storm coming and revving up

Mid storm we get the most lovely rainbow for 2 minutes. 

For this the bedroom window was opened 

and made sure that it was the one that opened away from the sea 

and the prevailing winds and rain!

I just can't get enough of hydrangeas, 

and all the colours on the Isle of Man. 

These on the island are just fabulous!