Just as this walker muddled through a less-than-pleasant Summer, Mother Nature’s Summer of 2025 similarly plodded along, pumping out record warmth and humidity, until begrudgingly backing off and allowing cooler temps to prevail.
It was almost as though Summer mocked Autumn’s arrival.
Then suddenly, on the morning of October 8th, it appeared that Summer, like the Mallards in the featured image and below, beat a hasty retreat as …
… we dropped 25+ degrees and Fall finally settled in and stabilized – whew!
What a long, strange trip our entire 2025 weather has been.
The days that followed the arrival of “real Fall” were a treat, with so many glorious weather days that I lost track of them all – for me it was the best weather of 2025. But, while the critters and I may have enjoyed soaking up the sun, the trees were not so happy as mentioned in my recent “Walktober” post wherein I described my October 3rd trip to Lake Erie Metropark as lackluster and I just rolled in and out again, without even stopping to park.
Given the cooler temps, I was eager to see if this park’s foliage would be at peak, so off I went on October 20th, camera in tow.
I will admit I’ve enjoyed prettier Fall walks at this venue, but, there was a potpourri of color, a lot of brown in the marshes from exploding cattails and dried reeds, but I also found areas infused with enough golds, oranges and reds to declare it a good leaf-peepin’ walk. I hope you will agree.
First, I had a short visit with Luc, who was not in a chatty mood and remained hunkered down in the corner of his enclosure.
I mused at the size of this large and mottled-looking Sycamore leaf …
… comparing it to my foot.
I wandered over to the wooden overlook, just past Luc’s enclosure and the boathouse. The water levels were down and there was mud where previously marsh water had been. It has been like this all year, so it was nothing new, but still a bit shocking at first glance. You’ll see more pictures where the marsh is mostly dry as I progressed on this walk and in future posts as well.
I decided to walk to the boat launch area where perhaps the group of official migrating raptor counters might be and I’d get some shots of those big birds. Glancing back across the marsh, the leaf colors were not impressive at all. This is Luc’s enclosure and the boat house and its small overlook.
I meandered along this overlook …
… pausing to gaze at and take more pictures of the dried-up marsh from the right side of the overlook.
The cattails had begun bursting at the seams …
… and the head of this Phragmites reed was draped along the overlook railing.
Finally, I saw a spot of color in the distance and I knew just what tree it was, the gorgeous Maple near the boat launch area.
What was this – two Maple trees? I only remembered the one. A few spots of color near the long-dead trees was a welcome sight …
… and admittedly, the blue sky, clouds and dead trees reflecting on the other side of the marsh where there WAS water was scenic.
I was struck by the stark look of the dead trees against the blue sky …
… with this dead tree looking like its top branch was caught on a cotton ball.
At the boat launch area, I found only a couple of counters and the sky was devoid of raptors, but I sure was enamored with this gorgeous Maple tree, one of the two spotted earlier, just as I am every Fall. Is there any other tree as resplendent as a Maple cloaked in its peak foliage colors?
Moseying along the Cherry Island Trail.
Even though I did not encounter a single critter along this portion of the trail, I did see a little more color, some scraggly leaves climbing up tree trunks, even a little Poison Oak or Poison Ivy.
The Dogwood bush berries contrasted nicely with some of its leaves that had begun to turn red.
A Poplar leaf fluttered down to the ground as I exited the Cherry Island Trail and I couldn’t help but think “it seems like just yesterday I was seeing, then writing about, all the Cottonwood tree fuzz here in the Spring.”
Autumn is always over in a flash. Sigh.
On nearly every Autumn walk, or even in your own backyard, you’re sure to find a Woolly Bear Caterpillar inching its way across your path and this walk was no exception. A Woolly Bear Caterpillar will one day become a beautiful Isabella Tiger Moth, a beneficial pollinator.
The legend of the Woolly Bear is that the wider their body’s brown segment is, the milder the Winter. But, if the Woolly Bear has a wide black segment, it will be a bad Winter. The Old Farmer’s Almanac has written about this folklore for decades, but scientists dispel the myth, saying the coloring depends on what this caterpillar eats and/or other non-scientific phenomena. Here’s a short video that does a deeper dive.
I’m fond of this particular caterpillar with its very broad BROWN section, since the La Niña pattern for this Winter suggests the possibility of above-average precipitation and more active storm tracks. Oh no!!! We already had two little snow events last week and some ice too.
I am joining Terri’s Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge: Brown and Gray TWICE this week.
For Wordless Wednesday, I will have an additional brown-themed blog post. My favorite color is brown … yes, weird, I know. 🙂
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
I wish I could make Luc happier! He needs some eagle company or for that matter……any company! Poor thing.
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I agree with you Wayne – more times than not, Luc is just sitting in the corner, motionless, not a peep out of him. I did tell you the one occasion this year that he actually went down the long branch they have for him to get to the floor where his food and water is. He went down that branch and sat there looking at me. I was amazed – first time since I’ve been going to this park (2018).
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he couldn’t of gotten a worse sentence If he had killed many humans!
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Yes, I don’t know why he can’t be in a larger enclosure and either closer to the museum or closer to the trails where more people would visit him – he’s down a hill, by a small overlook, not a lot of people stopping by there that would pass him and say “hi”.
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I enjoyed this post but was sorry to hear of the Father’s Almanac going down. John loved it.
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Thank you Anne. I was surprised and sorry to hear about it too. I used to buy the magazine but then when they had the website, I went over there instead. HOWEVER, just this morning I heard a correction on the news that it is the “Farmer’s Almanac” that is going out of business and not the “OLD Farmer’s Almanac” … I’m surprised that their names could be so similar with no copyright infringement, etc. – the latter has been in business for 200 years; the former for 234 business. News story was false. I wish they reported it yesterday as I could have edited the post.
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Good to know. Thank you.
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You’re welcome. Apparently a lot of fellow bloggers enjoyed the original “Old Farmer’s Almanac” so I was happy to say the news about it was not accurate.
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Well that was a nice walk, water or little water. I like brown too. Maybe that’s because you and I both grew up in the 70s when there was brown panneling on everything!
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Yes, it was still a nice walk – I agree Dawn, but it lacked some of the pizazz it usually has, except for those gorgeous Maple trees. They are always breathtaking. I was back there last week, but it’s done for the season color-wise and I only saw one heron and one egret. Yes, that is a good reason why we like brown – paneling everywhere, brown furniture (both wood and upholstery) – no pops of color.
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You caught some beautiful fall pictures. Love the catepillar!
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Thanks Kate – not as vibrant as usual, but I really liked those Maples. I see so many of the Woolly Bears in the Fall on the asphalt pathways. They travel pretty fast too!
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It looks fairly brown. I like the photo of the white birch trees reflecting in the water. And I’ve never seen poison oak. We’re definitely now in the colorless time of year.
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Yes, there was not much to see except for the two pops of color from the Maple trees. Everything else was brown. I went back last week to give the car a run. It is a 30-mile roundtrip for me and I saw nothing to get out of the car for – second time this year for that happening. I drove around the whole park (five miles) and saw one egret and one heron – zero deer. So, I went to Elizabeth Park instead where at least I could scare up a few geese. I would not have known poison oak or poison ivy at a glance, but in the past I took some photos and Diane said something about not getting too close for the picture as it was poison ivy. Glad I didn’t get any of the oil on me!
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Why do you think the wildlife are so scarce? Is that normal for this time of year? Do they go south earlier than usual? You would think it would be easier to spot deer with less foliage.
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I was wondering the same thing Joni … it is hunting season here, for ducks since September, but for deer from November 15th until November 30th; they can’t hunt in this park, but they can hunt ducks, just down the road. I heard this morning on the news that a hunter was found with a deer he had killed in a township. We do have deer wandering around in the somewhat rural areas, but this one met up with a hunter in the suburbs and not a vehicle/deer accident. I hope the marsh does not continue to dry up in most of the park, or I’ll have to find another park to go see some of the birds like herons and egrets.
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It seems to have been a bad year for drought in a lot of places, but maybe next year will be different. I know the lake levels must be way down as we had 50 ft of sand at the beach.
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Yes, we are still behind in precipitation despite the two minimal snow events and two bouts of freezing rain, yet we are behind in precipitation for November too. That’s a lot more beach than just a shoreline. We’ve had so many days of very gusty winds as well which hasn’t helped. Hopefully it gets better next year.
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I’m so happy you had so much glorious autumn weather!!! But it was sad to see the marsh’s water level get so low. I would love to walk along that boardwalk, I can almost feel the fresh air fill my lungs. Even with all the brown it still looks natural and as it should be. It helps make the red maples stand out! The water was so blue. I guess I’m a fan of stark beauty. Love the cotton ball at the top of those bare branches!!!
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Barbara, I feel the gorgeous autumn weather made up for the long, drawn-out Summer weather months. Then, like a light switch, it got so cold with some snow and freezing rain last week and tomorrow morning too. The water level at the marsh continues to amaze me, especially where there is no water at all! I do like that boardwalk – in the Summer, it gives you a great view of the herons and egrets in the marsh and that’s where most of my photos come from as to them. It’s funny to see the different marshes: no water, greenish-colored water and then very blue water. The dead trees against the blue sky and the cotton ball were very picturesque!
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Well, autumn wasnt stingy with brown and gray colors in your area, Linda! I love seeing beauty in the starkness. Even with your oddball weather there, ours was typical, and autumn lasted a long time for a change.
Your pics of maple leaves and fallen poplar leaves are so pretty! Poplars must be cousins to our quaking aspens, with similar leaf pattern and color.
What’s this about the Farmer’s Almanac? I always believed their weather predicting algorithms were unmatched for accuracy. Well, you’ve already had a bit of snow. Our weather report shows our first one inch of snow is on schedule for Nov 21… we’ll see. I’m ready for it. Our snow is dry and powdery in our high desert/alpine zone, so its not too bad to deal with.
Have a good first half of the week! 🤎🩶
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Thanks Terri – there can be beauty in brown and starkness, especially with a few pops of color likes those Maples and Poplar leaves. I believe that our Poplars (or Cottonwoods as many people call them here) are similar to your Aspens. We had gorgeous weather the tail end of last week and enjoyed 68 degrees on Saturday – what a treat that was, but tomorrow in my area we will have freezing rain and light snow. Go figure!
As to the Farmers Almanac, this afternoon I heard a news story about that … of course, it could have been yesterday and I would have edited out my sentence about the OLD Farmer’s Almanac and its demise. The original story was wrong. Today they gave the correction on the news and I verified on The OLD Farmer’s Almanac website that it is the Farmer’s Almanac that is going out of business and not them. Quite honestly, I’m surprised that their names could be so similar with no copyright infringement, etc. all these years – the latter has only been in business for 200 years; the former, the one we all know and enjoy for 234 years in business. I never knew there were two Farmer’s Almanacs – weird!
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Thanks for that clarification about the Farmer’s Almanac. Yes, very similar!
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You’re welcome Terri – why on earth would they create a similar type of book, with a similar-sounding name and then get away with it?
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Miss Linda……………………………..thank you for my walk through your autumn pictures……..I’m sorry about The Farmer’s Almanac going out of business……………..I’ve read it for many years
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Ann Marie, I’m glad you liked the autumn pictures at Lake Erie Metropark. I thought of you when I was preparing this post because I met you at Council Point Park while taking a photo of a Woolly Bear Caterpillar for my blog, shortly after you retired. You were curious and came over to see what I was photographing. I have learned this afternoon and verified it on the “Old Farmer’s Almanac” website that it is not them and they wanted to clarify that it is the “Farmer’s Almanac” that’s going out of business. It has been in business for 200 years and the original Almanac that you enjoy and read is 232 years old.
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That really was a huge leaf! Or you have very tiny feet lol. I am sorry about the Farmer’s Almanac going out of business. That was always an interesting magazine to read. And I do think that sometimes what animals are doing or when leaves turn or whatever DO tell you what the weather or seasons can be like. It can’t be any worse than some of the weathermen !
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Susan, Sycamore leaves are very big, but I wear an 8 1/2 shoe size, but a 9 for walking shoes. 🙂
As to the Farmer’s Almanac mention in this post, today I learned this info, then I verified it on the OLD Farmer’s Almanac website, the book/site we enjoy. The correction on the news that it is the “Farmer’s Almanac” that is going out of business and not the “OLD Farmer’s Almanac” … I’m surprised that their names could be so similar with no copyright infringement, etc. – the latter has been in business for 200 years; the former for 234 business. So the original news story was false. I wish they reported it yesterday as I could have edited the post. Yes, definitely they can predict better sometimes … I hope they’re wrong this year though as they are saying it will be a whopper Winter!
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Yes, I heard that we were supposed to have a horrible winter and I’m not happy about that at all lol thank you for clarifying about the farmers Almanac. Have a great week Linda.😊
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I’d like to just skip Winter and go right to March … I won’t even be piggy and ask it to be April. 🙂 You have a great week as well Susan!
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I do not find your preference for brown weird at all. I love warm nature tones, and that includes many shades for brown! All our furniture is some shade of brown, in fact, whether wood or upholstered.
The fall colors, aside from the maples, do seem to have been a bit lackluster. Hopefully you had better luck elsewhere.
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We have that love of brown colors in common Eilene. There are so many shades of brown and nature tones and I like them all. The foliage colors in general were very lackluster here and I returned again last week to this venue and for the second time this year, drove the five miles around the park and never got out of the car. Elizabeth Park did shine with their gold Oak leaves and some orangey Maples. I’ll save that walk for mid-Winter when we’ll appreciate a little bit of color.
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To find joy and beauty in everything, even in small details, is a rewarding experience.
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Yes it is Story Times — we have to appreciate nature, even with its occasional flaws.
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You certainly did the theme justice, Linda, with plenty of browns and greys. 🙂 Nice to see the red maple leaves in between, though. It was interesting to learn about the Woolly Bear caterpiller. I fear our winter will be bad this year, since we’ve already had a snowstorm, but also a thunderstorm and hailstorm! 😲 What a shame about the Farmer’s Almanac being discontinued.
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Thank you Debbie! I was happy to see the two pops of color from the red maple amidst all the brown and beige tones in the marsh, especially how the dried-up marsh looks. I have heard about the Woolly Bear caterpillar weather story since I was very young and the folklore about it is still going strong. I found that video interesting too and here’s hoping this caterpillar with its wide brown segments was a positive find – neither of us want a bad Winter. That’s just too weird having a snowstorm, thunderstorm and a hailstorm. We had two bouts of snow last week and were supposed to get some today, but didn’t, but we did have freezing rain briefly this morning. I’d like to bypass the Winter months and be welcoming Spring instead. I’m sorry I put the story about the “Old Farmer’s Almanac” going away, because Monday there was a follow-up story on the news clarifying that the “OLD Farmer’s Almanac” will keep publishing and have their website too, but the “Farmer’s Almanac” will be shutting down. I hopped onto the “OLD Farmer’s Almanac” website to verify and they were apologizing to people for the confusion. They’ve been publishing 232 years and the “Farmer’s Almanac” has only been publishing 200 years. Why would you name your publication almost the same name, even if it was 200 years ago?
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I’m with you about skipping the winter months! It came on so suddenly, too. 🥶 Thankfully, it was milder today, and should be for the next few. That is confusing about the Farmer’s Almanac and the Old Farmer’s Almanac! Anyway, I’m glad one of them will still be around.
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I’ve never been a fan of Winter and less when it starts this early. They are still hinting at bad weather over our Thanksgiving weekend. Hopefully it doesn’t mess up people’s travel plans as many people may have changed their flight plans to travel by car or train in the event the airline schedules were still operating with less planes/crew. I was sorry I put the blurb about the Almanac into the post as I already had the post done and just added it when I added Terri’s blog post link. I used to buy it all the time before they had a website.
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I actually have not seen a caterpillar in a long time, especially the wooly bear. Wonderful video about them, that they can handle 90 deg below zero. Wow, 🙂
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Sandra, I do see the Woolly Bears caterpillars at Council Point Park and most of the parks where I go – maybe they are in the trees and drop down onto the path? The only other caterpillars I see are the Tussock Moth Caterpillar. They are white and have these hairy-looking bristles and if they are aggravated or feel threatened, they can fling them from their body toward you and the bristles stick to your skin. I thought that video was interesting too – surviving 90 degrees below zero is amazing. I guess the ticks are surviving below-freezing temps. Last year the weather folks said “it is really cold, it’ll zap all the ticks.” But we had an influx of ticks here anyway.
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I do love me a good maple tree in the fall. I have one that usually turns a brilliant yellow, but this year went orange on me.
Beautiful photos, as always!
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Thank you JP! I think the maples have the prettiest leaf colors. Strange your tree went orange instead of yellow. Leaf peeping was a disappointment this year for the most part.
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It makes sense your favorite color would be one prevalent in nature! Nice to see Luc again. Your photos this week remind me of the moment Dorothy’s black-and-white house landed in Oz and she opened the door to vivid colors. That one leaf is mind-boggling in size; glad you thought to include your foot for scale. Finally, the red maples are spectacular but they’re not always favorable in our equestrian community. Residents occasionally choose to cut them down because of an allergy horses have with the leaves. Personally I wish the trees would stay, but in these parts the horses come first 🙂
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That’s interesting about the red maples giving the horses allergies. Well you can’t have that happen, so that is a shame as I think the maples, especially the red maples, have the most vibrant foliage out there. Our leaves were a disappointment this year, except for the occasional pops of color on those maples, like I featured here, that usually do produce spectacular colors. There is a tree at Council Point Park that always turns vibrant shades as well and it didn’t disappoint this year. The sycamore tree leaves are gigantic. I am glad I put my foot next to it for scale so could see how big it was. If those leaves were on your lawn, you could pick them up instead of raking them!
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Nice pictures, Linda. I like the cotton ball picture – kind of like a giant Q-Tip. LOL! I’m not surprised to see the dry marsh as it has been so dry this year. I guess we can use that above- average precipitation.
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Thanks Ruth! The cotton ball picture just cracked me up when I took it. This stark tree and bright blue sky with one cloud in it. Yes, a giant Q-Tip! The marshes are awful, all but a few where the water must be deeper, but the shorelines go back more than usual, even at Council Point Park. All that promised above-average precipitation will help the marshes, lakes and your pond too, even though WE might not appreciate it.
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Linda, the photos in this post were outstanding – the colors, the skies – the birds and al that blue – oh I enjoyed this nature celebration via photos
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Thank you Yvette! I was lucky to eke out another colorful “Walktober” though not as colorful as we usually would have, due to our drought-like conditions all Summer. The skies were such a bright blue and a nice contrast to the starkness of the long-dead trees and the dried-up marsh.
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hard to beleive novmber is winding down
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Yes, it just sped by didn’t it?
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Wow, what a gorgeous walk! Autumn really does fly by way too quickly. I loved reading about the Woolly Bear Caterpillar—I had no idea their colors were tied to folklore like that! Makes me wonder what kind of winter we’re in for. Honestly, this post was such a relaxing read, especially since I’ve been stuck working with some family law lawyers lately—it’s been a bit overwhelming, so it’s nice to take a little break and soak in some fall vibes through your words. Thanks for sharing! 🍁
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Yes, my favorite season and it always flies by too quickly – we did have a gorgeous October and I took lots of walks and lots of pictures after that hot Summer. I hope both our Winters are kind – last year with all the ice and snow and I didn’t get out to walk for weeks as it was just too slippery. That Woolly Bear story is so fun and I’ve heard about it since I was a little girl. As for work, I know just how stressful it is working in a law firm Jeanie, as I was a legal secretary for 44 years before I retired in March last year. And, as it gets close to the end of the year, lots of people are off, people are covering for one another and everything needs to be done before year-end. The last 20 years I worked for a sole practitioner, so that had its moments too as taking a vacation day always seemed to coincide with a “rush” or something else that came up suddenly. I am glad you enjoyed the post – walking in nature and writing about it is very relaxing to me.
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That leaf was huge Linda! Cost must have got to be too much for the Farmers Almanac. I never believed in it or followed what they wrote because it was hardly ever right. I’m happy for the people that do like it can still get the “Old” one.
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Yes, that leaf was huge Diane and I’m glad I put it next to my foot so people could see it. I’m wondering how the “Farmer’s Almanac” got away with such a similar name for their publication all those years. I don’t know if I ever saw that book, just the tried-and-true “Old Farmer’s Almanac”. I used to buy it years ago, but just go online now to read it occasionally. I used to subscribe to it by e-mail, but they might have stopped doing that. It was a great source for quotes back when I did a quote a day at work, something fun I did and circulated to everyone in the office and friends for years.
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I hope you can still find it on line.
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Yes, it is still available online – in fact they had a big notice about people confusing the two publications and to assure people that the original Almanac was still going strong.
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