The early morning drizzle vanished on cue and the faint sun put a smile on my face and a little pep in my step. A gusty breeze stirred my straw, er … hair.
I’m doing a slow meander through this first week of Fall. It’s still warm here in Southeast Michigan and feels like this season should have the moniker of “Small Fall” – just a silly thought I guess. The pumpkins adorning homeowners’ porches had better be fake, otherwise they’ll resemble Libby’s canned pumpkin after our mini heat wave. This week is designated as “Michigan Trails Week” but since it’s kind of soggy the next few days, I’ll likely stay local and just pop down to Council Point Park to commemorate the event.
Meanwhile, at that Park, the first blush of Fall has arrived, with subtle changes that make you say “whoa – it looks like Mother Nature took out her Sharpie to add a few colors to the landscape.”
There are glimpses of the usual jewel-toned leaves, or oddities like this tree with the polka-dotted leaves … whatever disease it has, these spots emerge every year right as rain.
Late September dribs and drabs.
This is the Park’s first big tree to show a little color, though many reeds and bushes already have dribs and drabs of vibrant reds, deep plum or orangey-brown tones. I noticed the walker’s sweater exactly color coordinated with this tree.
I wondered why this one stem of leaves is totally red and none of the others are?
Mother Nature was a little haphazard where she put her splashes and dashes of color … for example:
This was a bit sad … a Cabbage White butterfly caught on a burr, forever hovering on top of this prickly plant, its wings snagged and trapped on the rough edges.
The hangers on.
As we near the end of September, our weather still feels more like August and the tinges of wildflower colors make you forget we’re almost through the first week of Fall. As mentioned earlier this week, some dandelions are still dotting the landscape. I have the occasional one in my lawn too – their tenacity is admirable, but they can take a hike anytime.
I noticed this metal yard ornament … it makes no difference if we pass Go, skip Fall and proceed right to Winter – this crazy daisy will still be doing its best to brighten up this homeowner’s front yard.
Are you pining for the upcoming Christmas holidays yet?
Pine trees and pine cones make me think of Christmas time.
When the cones were still soft and dripping with pine resin, the squirrels were climbing the trees and pulling them off to enjoy the pine nuts. I often pondered why the sticky resin did not glue their innards together? This soft cone was a dud … it had no resin, and never opened its “petals” and developed into a full-fledged, brown and hard pine cone.
As the sun gently filtered through the clouds, I decided to do a shadow selfie – hmm, just a girl and her pine tree. (Somehow the phrase does not have the same ring to it as “just a girl and her gull” or “just a girl and her butterfly” does it?)
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Miss Linda……………………….you are such an interesting and amusing story teller………………..you can take an ordinary time at an ordinary park and make it bubble with life and color…………….thank you…………………..
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Glad you liked it Ann Marie. It’s funny, because sometimes I will walk through the park and see lots of ordinary every day things and nothing strikes my fancy to take a picture of or write about, and other times just a little glimmer of sunshine puts the leaves and even those now ratty-looking burrs in a different perspective. I’m off to walk … I’ll see what I can find this morning – I hate waiting so long for the sun to get up don’t you?
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I enjoy the color change in the foliage! Fall is lovely that way! I still had a hanger-on as well: I picked some strawberries from my backyard yesterday! Very nice post!
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Fall has always been my favorite season hands down Michelle. I know lots of people here in SE Michigan like the Spring season after a long Winter of blah landscape and our past two Springs have hung on forever, but I like the Fall colors, decor better. Last Fall, we had a hard freeze in late September and snow in early November and I’d not cut the roses down and I found them coated in snow … it was beautiful seeing the buds with their snowy crystals though. I wrote a post called “Jack Frost nipping at your rose.” 🙂
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How very fabulous
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Thanks Michael – I may embrace Fall now, once the snow comes at the tail end of Fall … well, not so much.
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Hi Linda, Just wanted to let you know I’m doing my research project for my grad class: habitats, adaptation and evolution, on the Eastern Grey Squirrel and how human activity affects them in urban settings in Washington State & North Carolina (my partner for the project lives in NC) so I will be your go to for all things grey squirrel by the end of the semester 😉
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Thanks for telling me Sarah and I appreciate knowing that, so I will be able to pick your brain. I love the Grey and Black squirrels at the Park and the neighborhood – they are so lively, yet skittish, and I am hard pressed to get them over to see me unlike the “pushy” Fox squirrels do. I miss my porch pals I fed all last Winter – Grady the Grey Squirrel was such a sweetie, and two Black squirrels and the Jays and Cardinals … all was right with the world until the Fox squirrel started hogging all the food and refusing them to get near, and he chased Grady out into the street. I was afraid he’d be run over so I stopped. I saw a short video on my friend’s Facebook page earlier this evening and I’m going to share it with you … and you can share it with your partner for the project … great interaction of a human and a Grey Squirrel, and I also would be the woman in the park who would help out this Grey Squirrel and her baby. So would you. 😉
https://www.msn.com/en-us/Video/animals/squirrel-stops-woman-in-park-leading-her-to-its-injured-baby/vi-AAHQ3zx?ocid=sf&fbclid=IwAR0pAbVPASD2jrx-H-BiGUVpUtFqpXcDYKVmg9Ong7GPzN2Zwenzv2rO2xE
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The yard ornament is what caught my eye in this post. I enjoy seeing them around and especially like seeing them as they age through each season. Wonder what winter will do to this one?
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I’ll have to retrace my steps as I walked a different way last Friday when I saw this flower and the squirrels in the harvest decor so I’ll try to take a peek come Winter. This construction will linger long into the Winter months – the street I take is torn up that badly. I think these metal yard ornaments look better sometimes when they age, although my boss went to the Center for Creative Studies, which is on Wayne State University’s campus, and one year he gave me a wacky-looking metal bird for my garden. He likes purple and this was lavender colored and made of hand garden tools. It’s head was a small rake to look like feathers sticking up and three hand trowels were its body and wings. The trowels were painted lavender – the rest was plain metal.
I don’t remember what garden implement the feet were. Anyway, it was real different and I said “should I put urethane on it to keep it from rusting?” He said “the rust will enhance its look.” It did not make it to the end of the Summer … it was rusted anywhere that was not purple. I buried the feed in the dirt in case he ever stopped by and wanted to see my garden as they pretty much rusted right off from watering/rain. Next time I’ll use a clear coat.
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That’s interesting. I would have thought that the bird would have rusted in a pleasing, gradual way. Guess not. Of course I figure that outside garden decor items are as ephemeral as the flowers in the garden. They each have their time, then move on having shared their beauty and fun.
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I’ve seen metal yard art that weathered the elements nicely too … this bird’s deterioration was abysmal … I pushed it into a corner, burying its feet in the dirt and finally gave it the ol’ heave ho. They should have treated it with something. On my walks, I pass a house where they put one of those large sun outlines on the front of their home which has white siding. The sun has rusted, leaving a brown trail down the front of the house and I don’t understand why they don’t fix it as they have a beautifully landscaped home.
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The ways in which people maintain the exteriors of their properties could be a whole blog unto itself. There’s much to judge, little to understand about *why*?
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The spots on the maple tree is called Maple Tar Spot. Why do I know this? Because my 2 maple trees have it too and it is a fungus. Although it looks awful it doesn’t kill the tree. My trees aren’t as bad this year as they were last year. I am so excited for fall, my favorite season. Love seeing all the color in your pictures!
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Well thank you for that info Diane. I’ve been walking at Council Point Park since 2013 and every year it is the same thing – polka dots on the leaves and it’s otherwise healthy. I’m guessing they don’t spray the trees there. They plant them, stake them and let nature take its course. Fall is my favorite season too – we have a crummy day, raining hard and thundering through noon and it’s actually chilly in the house!
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Not pining yet…. but did hear a radio program (science Friday show) where a caller called in and said he ate pine needles on hikes – added them to hot chocolate
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Ouch! Maybe it was Scotch Pine which are very soft and have long needles. I once did a post in mid-July when the Poplar fuzz was flying everywhere and it was a humid day. I passed a house which has multiple pine trees and also has planted mint … I could not see that mint, but I sure could smell it. My neighbor’s husband liked iced tea and she planted lots of mint to float in his iced tea and on humid morning it smelled wonderful. So, with the abundant Poplar fluff on the lawns, the mint smell which was like candy canes and fragrant pine trees, it seemed like Christmas to me.
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What a lovely document of changes. I’ve noticed lots of trees starting to change just this past week. But the heat! It’s still hitting 90! We’ll get there soon enough I suppose. 🙂
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Thanks Michelle – my favorite time of year. We are going to set a record on Tuesday, close to 90. There is no happy medium in the the U.S. it seems – Montana is set to have a record snowfall!
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Beautiful blooms!
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Thank you Chocoviv – I am surprised they are still blooming – our weather is wacky, one day hot, the next cold. Today we have stormy and rainy weather and it’s below normal; tomorrow above-normal temps, in the mid-80s!
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I love to see the changes that fall brings. We have a few liquid ambers around here but I haven’t seen them put on their autumn colors yet. And, no, I’m definitely not anxious for Christmas yet.
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The colors in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan are usually at peak by mid-October. I will try to get some nice leaf colors that weekend because one gusty wind can strip the trees in no time. My neighbor has a maple and it slowly turns red and one day you’ll look out there and admire it and it generally drops all its leaves over two days. It seems hard to believe that three months and the holidays will be over.
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I so look forward to your beautifully written posts Linda. You really have a way with words and really bring the nature you talk about alive ❤.
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Thank you Zena – that makes me feel good. I try to make it like people are walking along with me. Fall is trying to settle in and I tried to capture it with words and photos. Thank you again.
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You do such an awesome job of that! ❤
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Thank you Zena – p.s. – you are a night owl tonight!
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I am always a night owl and usually a morning person too which can be pretty annoying for others 😁
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I am trying to break those habits of mine which are the same as yours Zena. Lately I’ve been hitting the snooze alarm a few times extra in the morning since I can’t leave as early for walking as the sun is rising so late now. I would be better off if I got up and was productive, but that does not happen unfortunately. This morning it was going to rain hard, and the alarm went off and I shut it off and rolled over for four hours more- I did the same thing for the same amount of hours one other rainy morning last week. It felt nice though.
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It does feel lovely sometimes just to rest and sleep as much as your body needs. I don’t blame you for hitting that snooze button at all ❤
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Especially now that the cold weather is here – you just want to roll over and pull the blankets up to your chin to stay toasty!
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I don’t know how I missed this post Linda, but I’m reading it now…..I would certainly welcome a bit cooler weather and some leaf changes, but not that dreaded snow.
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Well, I’m glad you caught up Joni – I am perpetually behind. This morning the alarm went off and I decided to roll over as it was pouring and rumbling out there – woke up with a start and it was late for me. This was a “squirrel-less” post and about our early color changes – I read last week that peak color for SE Michigan will be after mid-October, specifically October 19th. But that prediction was made for the Fall travel campaign here in our state and I think they could not be accurate after this last week of wacky weather and its highs and lows … I hope that by the time it is peak color that the rain and bad weather is done by then. The more I hear about chilly and rainy November with snow at American Thanksgiving, seven major snowstorms and a Polar Vortex for Winter, I am sorry I disparaged Summer. That is the “Farmer’s Almanac” prediction – they get it right more than the weathermen these days!
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Seven major snowstorms! Last year I think we had three big ones, based on what I paid the snowshovelors, and the rest just minor and cold. No leaf changes here much, and no frost in sight, just more of the same old rain.
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Yes, that’s what the “Farmer’s Almanac” said – they had the representative on WWJ twice, once for the six-month forecast, and then a little later for the first day of Fall. Not looking forward to it at all. You usually have about the same weather as us. In fact, I just looked for a link to send you of our SE Michigan weather and found a Southern Ontario forecast … I compared and it is about the same … here is Southern Ontario.
https://www.almanac.com/weather/longrange/region/ca/3
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Thanks Linda…..I don’t like the look of those snow showers so early…even Thanksgiving weekend.
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You’re welcome Joni and I know I hated to be the bearer of bad news – it mirrors our weather forecast. Not happy at all.
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I like how you noticed the mans sweater matched the color of the tree. I just smile when I read your stories. Thank you for that. 🙂
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Thank you for saying that Sandra – you know it is funny the little details that you notice when you are walking in a park. On this perimeter path I don’t need to watch for vehicles crossing my path, and there are bicyclists, but very few of them, so I can just notice all the little details. It was the exact same color as that tree – that is the tree that I put the seed bells in and referenced in today’s post. After I started walking there I saw the memorial trees and wanted one for my mom, but they were no longer selling the plaques anymore. I have written about several of the trees where people decorate them for Christmas and one guy, the family changes the wreath for the season and gather there on his birthday. Other walkers have seen people at Brian Skinner’s memorial tree on his birth date or death date. You will see a post that I wrote last year about Brian.
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That is so nice that people do that. I noticed on my walking path they have some memorials on park benches and some trees along the way. My Mom lived in the same small town most of her life. And they set up a Veterans memorial with bricks in the ground and the names of all veterans from that town. For those who are still alive also. We would go there and look at it every time I went to visit.
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They have that type of bricks at Patriot’s Park. I went one time to see it and there are bricks for living and deceased veterans. It is very nice how they did this. We have a park that is sponsored by the Lions organization for blind children. There is a small garden with a trail next to it and all the names of the perennials in the garden are found in markers so the kids can touch them. They have stones that make up the pavilion also.
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That is a good idea to put the names by the flowers, good for everyone to learn and know what they are.
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Yes, I thought so too – they have expanded Lions Park in recent years by the donations from bricks in their pavilion and they now have playground equipment that is geared for kids with disabilities as well as the flower I.D. walk.
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So nice.
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