Fall here has been glorious. I don’t recall a time in recent years when the trees’ foliage, particularly on the oaks, has been so vibrant and long-lasting.

For a while, I never understood why red oaks were called “red.” I still don’t know why, but I’m willing to guess that if the seasons align as they should meteorologically, then the foliage would be red. I don’t have any pictures of the red oaks, which resemble a merlot to me, but I have some of these:

sugar maple. i think this is the same type of tree near Mom now.

this is the same red tree as above, but i wanted to include the bartlett pear behind it. on the parkway near my home, they planted sugar maples and bartletts alternately … it’s gorgeous and such a distraction.

I practically took over the driver’s seat to get this shot.

fall skies are so intense. the blues seem crisper and the contrast seems bolder.

This photo is untouched; I just wish it were more in focus:

These trees awaited me every time I went to the boathouse:

i can’t get enough of these trees. when i was younger, i would roll my eyes when Mom would insist we “look at the colors!” on drives up to Niagara Falls each autumn. i know… such a hardship!

In early October we went apple picking; an annual event here that we haven’t actually done annually in a few years…

here we are. working hard. it was early in the shift; we needed a break from all that labor.

We bought a half bushel of apples for $12. We had every intention of baking them into pies, making apple sauce, and apple butter with them, but we didn’t do it at all. However, the apple population in the bag had been slowly declining.

this was full.

Today, I discovered why.

we are glad at someone is enjoying the apples.

Thank you.