It was another beautiful Fall day here in Southeast Michigan.

My boss left Thursday morning to close up the cabin near Georgian Bay, Canada, and it seemed to me that it was not all that long ago he made that five-hour drive to open the cabin for the season. I know we compared notes all Memorial Day weekend on just how cold it was there versus here as I spent the entire five days outside working in the yard in heavy sweats, hat and gloves.

And, now … here it is … the tail end of October.

The weather was perfect to work out in the yard, after going on a long walk first. Unfortunately, though, for this communing-with-nature session, I wasn’t striving to make the yard look good, but instead putting the gardens “to bed” … I decapitated the daisies, cut down the coneflowers and reduced the rosebushes to about two feet high.  I always feel a little sad performing this end-of-season ritual, especially because the roses were still full of blooms and the aroma of their petals filled the humid late morning air.

While walking in the neighborhood this week, I noticed most of the perennials, and even some of the hardier annuals like geraniums or impatiens, still looked just as vibrant as they did all Summer, despite Jack Frost taking swipes at the landscape with his crystallized paintbrush three days in a row.

Now, the trees are ablaze in a fiery clash of colors so I took some more pictures as I strolled down Emmons Boulevard and through Ford Park and I will share them on later posts.

Today’s picture, “Curious Grasshopper”, comes courtesy of my friend Leslie Wallace. Her husband, Lester, was a finalist in the “2015 Nature Near You” Photo Contest sponsored by the Six Rivers Regional Land Conservancy.  This close-up photo was Lester’s prize-winning entry.   He’s also won in prior photo contests for the same organization. If you like Lester’s up-close-and-personal grinning grasshopper, there are additional beautiful nature pics by other contributors at this link:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/sixriversrlc/albums/with/72157658035922212

I really like that grasshopper’s evil-looking grin … it makes me grin as well.

“A camera is a ‘save’ button for the mind’s eye.” ~Roger Kingston