Mosaic of color...

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting
and autumn a mosaic of them all.
(Stanley Horowitz)
I am such a sucker for beautiful autumn color so Jeff & I took a roadtrip yesterday in search of autumn. We found it at Mille Lacs Kathio state park by Onamia, MN. We did some hiking as well as driving around looking for wildlife.
This small doe as well as another cooperated by treating us to a roadside appearance. We also saw 3 bald eagles but I haven't mastered any "flight" photos of them yet so you'll just have to take my word on those. It was a wonderful fall day experiencing the sights and smells of autumn. There is just something about the smell of a wooded path at this time of year...someone needs to invent a candle with that scent. But what would they call it...decaying leaves? Probably wouldn't be a big seller :-)

Nodding sunflowers...

The sunflower children
Nod to the sun.
Summer is over,
Fall has begun!
(author unknown)

I just love the bird activity at this time of year! Though I still have the feeders filled they all go to the natural seed heads first.
Yesterday, I went out to take some butterfly shots (there are still quite a few around) and was surprised to see a hummer. I took all the nectar feeders down 2 weeks ago when the nights got chilly to encourage them to migrate and had thought they had all left within days. This guy either remained enjoying the natural food sources or is migrating through.

morning walk...

"An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day."
(Henry David Thoreau)I love autumn sunrises (maybe because they are later and I'm actually up and coherent) so I've decided the best way to enjoy them is by going for early morning walks. What a blessing they truly are...

"Thoughts come clearly while one walks." (Thomas Mann)
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." (John Muir)

If I hadn't been out walking I never would have noticed how the first rays of light hit only certain parts of the field giving them a warm glow. It sure makes the trees look much prettier than at any other time of day.
I cut through the garden on the way back to the house to take a picture of my pond as requested by BJ - sorry, it's not a "koi pond" just plain ole' goldfish for me. Soon I will be taking them out for the year and it will be interesting to see how many I have. I see lots of small young ones from this year's hatch but sadly most of my favorites have disappeared from something that raided the pond for several nights in a row in June. We believe it was racoons as the dogs had one up the electric pole one morning but the 12" comets and all the fantails are gone.

September surprise...

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer.
(Helen Hunt Jackson, September, 1830-1885)
Someone forgot to tell Mother Nature that yesterday was the first day of Autumn and we hit 90 degrees! I took this tiny butterfly shot and the scary looking moth with the large black eyes posted below yesterday afternoon.
As I was getting ready to post today I thought it would be nice to have a "fall color" shot too so I went outside to see if I could find some pretty leaves and lo and behold the yellow swallowtail in the first shot was sunning itself on the edge of the grove. Not the fall color I was imagining but some pretty awesome color to welcome autumn anyways! Happy Fall!

end of summer...

Though autumn arrives on Sunday there are still signs of summer in the garden...
Victoria Blue Salvia has been a favorite of the butterflies, bees & moths all season.

I was happy to see this sphinx month and the monarch butterfly on Thursday evening. Today was cooler and all I could find were bees.

a stormy day...

Clouds clouds
black and gray,
heavy with water
to drop all day.
(author unknown)
What a day that beautiful sunrise brought! It was dark & gray, windy & wild and wet. Thunder & lightening were so close that a candle holder fell off the windsill after the windows shook & rattled from a close strike. Tornado warnings were issued for our county in the am and pm so I ventured outside a couple of times to check for funnel clouds. The above shot is the view late morning looking to the southeast. By the looks of the standing water, I would say it will be a few days before they are able to get back out there to lift the sugarbeets.
This shot is late afternoon to the southwest and the sun is trying very hard to break through.
View above over the soybeans to the west/northwest. View below over the corn to the northeast. The dark brooding skies made MN farm country beautiful in it's own way. Gotta love my wide open spaces.

Early morning clouds...

Early in the morning before the sun doth rise,
you can hear the birds singing in the skies,
dewdrops on the flowers,
skies with pink do gleam, clouds like fairy towers,
gone in morning dreams.
(Cynthia Russell)
The sky was exceptionally beautiful this morning as the sunrise was lighting the clouds from underneath. The light was short-lived however as the sky became darker rather than lighter and I have been listening to the rumble of thunder for the last 2-3 hours. It is a gray, windy day - a good day to stay inside and catch up.

a path of diamonds...

“Heaven above was blue, and earth beneath was green; the river glistened like a path of diamonds in the sun; the birds poured forth their songs from the shady trees; the lark soared high above the waving corn; and the deep buzz of insects filled the air.” (from Nicholas Nickleby – Charles Dickens)
More scenes from the weekend...the water at Lac qui Parle glistening in the late afternoon sun and the salty shores of Salt Lake wildlife refuge in western MN. Salt Lake is the most alkaline body of water in the state and 1/3 as salty as sea water.





and the largest cottonwood tree in Minnesota :-)

a nice weekend

I hope you had as nice of a weekend as we did. We camped at Lac qui Parle state park and the view from our campsite was this...
Lac qui Parle is a wildlife refuge and they have many geese migrating through. We listened to many flocks fly above us as they came in to land on the water...We spent hours relaxing around this...
and enjoyed a few gooey warm smores as we watched this...
I had a wonderful weekend.

He made them...

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings
("All things bright and beautiful", 2nd verse; Cecil Frances Alexander)

My very favorite little bird, the chickadee, coming in for a drink with the late afternoon sun highlighting the yellow gloriosa daisies.
Red breasted nuthatch, another little cutie!

And we have lift off...
Lots of goldfinches in the garden. Most have molted from their summer plummage but there are a few bright yellow ones left. They are feeding on the coneflower heads and sunflower heads more than the feeders right now.

Garden Birds...

I went up north for a few days to spend some quality time with my daughter. We did lots of home decorating projects and bonding - what a great time we had. Wednesday morning they had a hard frost and I needed to scrape my windshield to drive. What a rude awakening to the fact that it will be here soon and the beauty of the garden will be gone for another season.











I was happy to see that the hummers are still here when I got back!

I've been so enamored with those hummers that I haven't shared some of the other birds in the garden for awhile. Above is an eastern phoebe that likes to rest on the pelican or solar lights around the pond and then swoop out to capture flying insects. At the left is a warbler of which there are many right now. They flit from plant to plant eating off bugs and the sunflowers are a favorite area for them.
The fun little wrens are still here too. I spent the morning looking for my orioles but I think they have finally left for the season. This photo was taken last week of one taking a final bath before he left.

200th post

"Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel."
(Author Unknown)
I sure hope you are not sick of the hummingbird photos yet because I sure enjoy taking them! It really is fun now that I finally learned how (I think this is my best flight one yet) and the garden is full of them at this time of year.

This is my 200th post. I am very thankful to everyone who reads and the encouragement a lot of you give to keep me posting. It is amazing to watch the counter grow each day and read your comments.

Swallowtail...

This beautiful swallowtail was in the garden yesterday and seemed to love the mexican shell flowers. I bought these bulbs on a whim and sure love the blossoms in red, pink & yellow so I hope to add more bulbs next spring as well as overwinter these in the basement.
Pardon my mess...I've been slack in deadheading since it is so late in the season, but this pretty butterfly is still worth these shots!

What I've learned...

about hummingbirdsThey are very territorial and guard the feeder they have staked out as their own. I have 4 feeders up and there is always one perched either on the hook or a nearby structure, plant or tree. When another comes there is lots of flying acrobatics going on that no matter how hard I try I can't capture with the camera, but it is one of the highlights of my days. This one is worth clicking for the larger view as you can see her individual feathers raised.
I've also learned that they stay much longer at a feeder port then they do at a flower. I usually have time to focus and get the shot at the feeder, but...
at a flower is another story! This is another favorite plant, the black and blue salvia. It is quite the hummer favorite and they are constantly stopping by for a taste. The trouble is they zoom in and back up so fast I can't get the shot! This guy has actually backed off the blossom because I couldn't press the shutter fast enough.

An elephant...

An elephant is fat and strong,
His trunk is very, very long,
His tail and ears flap bugs away,
And keep him cool on hot, hot days.
(Iram Khan)
A few more roadside sculptures from our roadtrip. This elephant was life sized and welded completely out of old lawn mower blades by artist Ken Nyberg. This one and the following are all displayed near his home in Vining (a small town in central MN.

It has been very hot the last few days and the rock is a very popular place to cool off. Today, I saw 12 warblers & goldfinches bathing at once but only managed to get 8 on camera!

Fresh air and sunshine...

"Only a biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of a car window."
(Author Unknown)Jeff & I decided to "take off" for the long holiday weekend and do some exploring of rural MN on our cycles. We couldn't have picked a better weekend as the weather was gorgeous.
Fresh air (unless you were passing a road kill skunk of which there are plenty at this time of year) and sunshine made up our days as we toured parks, lakes, rolling countryside and roadside Americana.
The world's largest catfish (Wahpeton, ND), mallard (Wheaton, MN), coot (Ashby, MN) and otter (Fergus Falls, MN) as well as every historical marker along our paths were some of the stops. Did you know the remains of one of North America's earliest man (dated to 9000 years ago) were discovered in Brown's Valley in 1932?