Fall is in full force, covering the expanse of our future garden/orchard yet still currently grass-covered lawn in a thick blanket of leaves. The maples are screaming yellow. The Virginia Creeper streaks red up the trunks of the oaks. And walks through the yard or nearby park invites a shot to the head by dive-bombing acorns. In the midst of all this death, one of our overgrown azaleas has convinced itself that it is April 6th, not November 6th. In the midst of its own changing leaves, a half dozen blooms have come forth, soon to be shocked by another freezing night.
Photo taken by Laurel one cool afternoon.
A short break from the Newfoundland photos today. Laurel and I have been spending a lot of time working on our new yard. Laurel has declared war upon the Honeysuckle, Tear-Thumb, Poison Ivy, and Japanese Barberry, taking great pleasure in ripping them from the ground and filling bag after bag with their corpses. When we moved in, the beds around the corner of the house in the picture were filled with weeds and invasive shrubs. Now the azaleas are clear, the mums are blooming, and wild chives are popping up everywhere. We'’ll keep updating with new pictures as we plant our small orchard, rip out the lawn for the garden, and watch the spring flowers bloom next year!
Back to the macro photography. The abundance and variety of lichens and mosses was unlike anything I have ever hiked through before. Viewed at its own level, it was like some fantastical landscape from early science fiction depictions of Mars and Venus. All that was needed was for John Carter to come charging through the Antler Lichen atop his thoat on his way to rescue Dejah Thoris.
Just outside of Quiddi Vidi Village near St. Johns. The fog had lifted slightly, exposing the slopes of the hills as they plunge down into the sea. To stand here in the face of a winter storm would be incredible and would probably lead to me looking like these forlorn pine trees, stripped to the bone and bleached by the salt-spray.
