Fall is fleeting … my favorite season that fills me with awe. I am sorry to see the leaves fluttering down to the ground, now scattered in a palette of burnished hues, those burnt oranges, rich reds, beautiful burgundies and glorious golds. I enjoyed them the best I could, until a wicked windstorm began ripping those leaves that were hanging precariously by their stems and sending them flying. In a four-season state it is what it is: Fall temps fall and so do leaves.
But before the leaves fell, the ‘hood was ablaze in Autumn hues.
The flowers and birdhouse complement each other don’t they?
Here in Michigan, the harvest décor starts appearing on homeowners’ properties right after Labor Day. One September Saturday, I took the long way home, as I strolled through the ‘hood to check out the displays before Mother Nature’s wicked windstorms and/or torrential rainstorms decimated them. And, it’s not only Mother Nature messing up the décor, but our furry friends also love Autumn in the ‘hood. It’s great fun to scale the corn stalks and grab a few ears of Indian corn to munch on, or, why not take a big bite out of a previously unblemished pumpkin? Yes, those same cute squirrels you may ooh and aah over are mischievous little buggers sometimes. You’ll recall I wrote a post or two last year after I watched one squirrel tear apart a homeowners beautiful display, just to nibble on some Indian corn. When I was taking pictures, the squirrel looked at me through the corn stalks and the definite look of defiance on its furry face was priceless.
Mum’s the word …
The mums demand equal time for Fall flourishes in homeowners’ front yards. In my opinion, nothing is more vibrant. as Summer wanes and Fall ramps up, than to see cushion mums gracing porches and front gardens. I am envious of these beauties as all my chrysanthemums got leggy or water logged and turned brown … some green thumb I had.
Once again, I stumbled upon sunflowers without searching for them.
It seems ever since I went looking for sunflowers in late Summer, they keep popping up … everywhere. Yes, these are a different variety and a smaller “face” but they gave me a smile when I passed them. There were several sunflowers, some which were top heavy and the stalk was bent over.
Here are some of the sunflowers close up.
The heading said “Autumn Amble” and I’ve been ambling along, still hoping to reach my goal by year end. We had a nice run of clear weather up to the last two weeks, but I concede we needed the rain. I am happy for the time change, because on gloomy mornings, it did not lighten up until 8:30 – 8:45 a.m. sometimes.
So, this image below would be me, ambling along and happy to have accumulated 1,102/1255 miles or 1,773/2020 kilometers in 2020 – amble on!!!
Onward and upward!!
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
I’ve tried a few times but have not been able to grow mums either. It looks like we have some nice weather coming up this week. I hope you can get in lots of miles. Looks like you are well on your way to meeting your goal.
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I see people with beautiful cushion mums Ruth – they are in pots or in front yards like in this picture. When I had mums, I planted them and we had a gulley-washer storm the next day and they all got root rot. Got some more the following year – they took, but grew big and tall and fell over all the time, so my mom and I decided we were not mum material and got bushes instead. Unbelievably it might hit 70 next weekend! I am ready for nice weather to hang on a little later if possible. I think I will make this goal unless we get a lot of rain or snow to get in the way. And we have a long holiday weekend the end of the month, so can walk longer four days in a row.
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This warm up is most welcome. 🙂
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Yes, too bad we had that hard freeze, we’d still have all the flowers. My roses are still blooming but I’m going to cut them down this weekend.
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I love the fall decorations in folks yards. The mums come in so many different colors now. And the sunflowers are not just yellow anymore. Wonderful photos Linda, all my favorite fall colors.
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I like them too Sandra – I see people buying big mum planters with the three different colors of mums in one planter. That is unique and beautiful – I found one such plant on a corner and put it in this post: purple, rust and yellow. These sunflowers were on a really tall stem that towered over me and had many blooms – had it not been for the stalk, I’d have thought it was some type of oversized daisy.
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Beautiful photos and the photo of mums shooting out in an half moon shape is great. Wish I had a plant like that and could keep it alive. They would liven up the yard!
Congratulations on your walking record. Hope there’s still a little bit more of autumn leaves near you till they really all fall off with wind, rain, etc.
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Look at you up until the wee hours of the morn Ester! They were gorgeous mums and sunflowers which I’ve not had luck growing mums – they look leggy for some reason. Thank you and I am hopeful to make that goal, especially if I can walk a lot in November since December is sometimes dicey. We still had some at the Park this morning, despite all that wind and rain yesterday – that surprised me.
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It seems that when I check WP that late, I see your post first. Maybe it’s the time difference. lol. Yea, my other friends also comment on how late I send my emails. Major night owl.
I went to Loewe’s yesterday and saw big plant pot blooming with mums. It reminded me of the pic in your post. I strayed away from that and got an ivy plant and the easy house plant that trails. Elliot really wanted to hang them so the lady said to get the wall hooks. Who knows then they’ll get put up? As of now, I detached the hangers and put them on the desk.
Walking in the cold and slippery ground can be dangerous. Don’t know what going to happen with the CA winter weather. If it gets rainy, I may finally invest in some rain boots.
Hope you have tough soled and warm shoes to beat the elements! Stay well and take care. 🙂
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The mums are beautiful, but you can enjoy the ivy year around. I set my posts to publish at 5:00 a.m. A Swedish photographer who has not posted in over a year, used to post photos almost every day. He had a day job and photography was a hobby. So, Sweden was 6 hours ahead of Michigan so I’d be commenting and he’d be checking his blog comments when he got up in the morning for work. I bought a pair of rain boots and worried they were going to seep thru, so I bought some Totes Cirrus Women’s Chelsea Ankle Rain boots. They are all one piece and no seepage of water or mud, comfortable, although I wouldn’t want to go on an extended hike in them. I bought mine in a bright red color … at least cheerful looking in the puddles. 🙂
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I like red boots! I think rain boots should be fun and bright…the yellow ones seem so cheery too. I’m not too familiar with winter shoes, but it seems duck boots serve both uses: hiking and rain protection. I read that somewhere in a fashion blog a while ago.
People blog from all over the world, so it’s interesting to see when people comment and to learn they’re in a different season than us.
I hope you are having a good Sunday! It is so bizarre that we suddenly got thunder and heavy rain early afternoon. We just sat by the window to listen to the falling rain. So serene but short lived.
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The rain is good for the wildfires … do you still have them with the same intensity? Due to rising COVID stats and the last week of election news, I hear nothing about the Colorado or California wildfires which I find odd. I logged a lot of hours outside as we had 71 degrees today, one less degree that could tie a century-old record. Walked 5 miles than came home and worked in the yard for about seven hours … I will feel like a Mack truck ran over me tomorrow morning I’m sure!
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Have a great start to the week snd happy November! Hugs from CA…
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Thanks Esther – you too. Hugs returned from Michigan!
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🙂
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The sunflowers look so pretty with their unusual red and orange accents. Congratulations on your accumulated miles! Well done! Love the rag doll at the end, it looks like she ready to join you on your amble. 🙂
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I have not seen that type of sunflower before and had to stop and take pictures as I had gone on the wild goose chase for sunflowers and here they were blooming almost under my nose. The rag doll was part of a wreath on a homeowner’s wooden fence and I stepped up close to her and took the picture and zoomed in on her. The wreath was tilted to one side so I thought she looked like she was walking. Thank you Barbara – if the weather is good for November, now that we have more light in the morning, I should be able to get it done, December sometimes get a little dicey, although we had quite a snowstorm one time on Veteran’s Day!
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How gorgeous! Is surely the best season…
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It is – my favorite time, no freezing or that horrid humidity we get in July and August!
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Beautiful sunflowers!
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I’ve never seen them in this color before – if the plant wasn’t so tall, I’d have wondered what they were!
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Lovely ambling!
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As Mr. Rogers would say “it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.” (Or “was” ….)
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Those are really nice and different sunflowers! I never buy pots of mums as I find the shelf life of them so short if we get an early frost that it’s not worth the money spent. I see tons of them for sale outside the grocery stores, often for crazy prices but I wonder who buys them as I seldom see them in front of houses. The fall weather is too fickle.
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Yes, my mom and I went past a produce market many years ago and they had rows and rows of mums and they were 3 for $10.00. Such a deal for big mums! We had the Pacer at that time which was a hatchback, so plenty of room to carry them home. I always had a tarp folded up in the back, so we loaded up. Had a whopper torrential storm a couple of days later and they all rotted from the rain. Other mums got so leggy that I pulled them out and planted bushes.
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Those mum’s are so beautiful! So are the flowers and I’m not ready for them to go!
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They were beautiful weren’t they Diane – especially when they are in the pots with the tree colors or two colors. I’ve been seeing those a lot the last few years. In the picture with the three-color mums, they are planted in the ground – they have some on the other side of the yard. My mums always got real leggy and didn’t look good. Too bad we had that hard freeze because we are going to be near 70 this weekend. I have to do yardwork – I wasn’t going to rake leaves last weekend … we had a lot of high wind for three days in a row. They’re not even my leaves!
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Beautiful and uplifting autumn photos! There’s no other season like it. 🙂
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That’s for sure Rebecca – I wish this season lasted longer!
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Dear “onward and upward”………………………………….yes whether we like this weather or not…………………………………..time marches on……………………………those sunflower pictures are just beautiful……………….and so are all of the “”mums” that I have been seeing all around the neighborhood…………………………this is their season to ripen and bring us joy!
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We can at least be happy that temps in the 70s will be present this weekend. It makes it more tolerable as we head toward Winter. The sunflowers were unusual Ann Marie – I’ve never seen them in that color before and with the small heads and large petals – so unique.
And the mums were just beautiful as well. Fall is a glorious season and over too soon!
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Congrats on your mikes reached and love the ending
And whew! The fall
Colors were ablaze
and amazing that you found sunflowers – more ideas for planting some of your own next year
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Thanks Yvette – plugging along and we have a gorgeous week through next Monday – 70 degrees every day and with the time change, I hope to rack up a lot more miles before the snow flies. Fall has always been my favorite season, even though it is on the way to Winter. I thought it was funny to find the sunflowers after I went searching for them everywhere. I like the color on these sunflowers – the homeowner had them along a high privacy fence and many were top heavy and starting to bend over (the only issue with sunflowers and what happened to my sunflower years ago).
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Yes – the bending and too heavy is an issue – and I do like the colors of these as well!
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Perfect for Fall!
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Oh, Linda…I am a sucker for sunflowers! These are beautiful. I don’t grow mums aanymore, but when I did, I bought them from a mum farm near me. The woman who owned the farm told me to continually pinch off new growth all summer long to prevent mums from getting leggy. And your mileage total is so impressive. But that is not a very flattering photo of you! 🙂
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I’ve never seen sunflowers this color Laurie and I was speaking with the homeowner so I should have asked what variety it was. She had a whole row of them planted them along a privacy fence. I wish someone had told me to continually pinch off the new growth as my mums were tall and hanging over – that’s why I got rid of the irises as they constantly were falling over. Thank you – I have heard that we will have a fairly mild November, so that, combined with the time change, should be helpful for me to rack up a lot of miles and meet my goal. I saw this girl on the front of a wreath and the wreath had moved sideways. I didn’t want to move it, so had to tilt my body sideways to take the photo. Her felt shoes are not made for walking long distances. 🙂
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I love the sunflowers! They come in so many different colors and sizes. As to mums, I haven’t ever been able to grow them in my garden, but see them growing wild at the park. Go figure!
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I see people with tri-color mums and beautiful cushion mums – what mums I could grow were tall and straggly and bending over, so I finally just pulled them out. I’m glad I’m not the only one who can’t grow mums! It frustrates me to see the Black-Eyed Susans in the wild, yet mine all bit the dust during the Polar Vortex … frustrating. I’ve never seen sunflowers in this color – they sure were beautiful.
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Plants can be funny. For years I tried growing pineapple sage and pampered them in pots. They never really did much and I wasn’t sure if they’d survive in the ground. Last year I spotted some small plants at the nursery and just stuck them into the ground. Now they are about six feet tall, bushy and are providing nectar for the hummingbirds during fall and winter. I will pick some of the leaves and try making tea. I bet it’ll be tasty. But sunflowers are special! I should grow some next summer. 🌻
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I said I was going to try growing sunflowers next Summer. The one time I tried, I had some short ones in pots and got goldfinch to eat them, but the tall “Russian Mammoth” sunflower I planted got top heavy with seeds, crashed down and the squirrels were feasting on it like crazy on the ground. That was back in 2010 and I’ve not tried since A friend sent me some shamrocks in different color. She lives in North Carolina and says they are invasive and overwinter well, but here they will not survive, but they grew like weeds!
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Hopefully you will have a chance to garden when you retire. I find it very relaxing and rewarding. It’s figuring out what works in which garden spot and amending the soil. I’m sure that the neighborhood critters will come and visit your garden for the sunflower seeds.
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I really liked gardening and had the butterfly garden which I was excited about — had two butterfly houses, butterfly bushes and a lot of pink Coneflowers. I had four types of butterflies and enjoyed seeing them, then I lost most of my butterfly garden to the first Polar Vortex. I never replanted – it was a good thing as the following year, we had another Polar Vortex. I started walking the following year, so decided I did not want to mess with the garden anymore – that all will change after retirement and limited time.
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Sounds like a plan, Linda! 🙂
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