The Rise of Fall

 This was probably the best day this year to go leaf-peeping. A bit of a cold spell but with little or no rain meant leaves had started turning without getting washed off the trees. Some trees have gotten past their prime color and some haven't started changing, but there are plenty out right now in wonderful autumn covering. Today was warm and sunny and Carrie and I both had the day off, so off we went.

 for bigger pics, click on any leaf

Bridge of Creams

Stone Mountain in the Burnt Meadow Mountain Range

A long weekend usually means a road trip for us. I thought it might be nice to get pictures of a covered bridge with fall foliage and we both wanted to take advantage of Maine Open Creamery Day.

Still in use, though not a lot of color in the surrounding trees.

Both bridges use the Paddleford Truss system.

Parsonsfield-Porter Bridge had more color around it

the goats liked to be scratched

We checked the maps for covered bridges and the map for participating farms in Open Creamery Day and figured out a possible combination. Going west and then south would allow us to get two bridges and at least one creamery, depending on the timing.

Of course, in the glacial carved landscape of Maine, there is no such thing as a straight line. Lakes and mountains keep you zig-zagging all over the place.

The entire day was heavily overcast in spite of the weather report of clearing skies. But the lack of good light didn't stop us from enjoying our meandering drive through the spectacular fall foliage.

We got to both bridges, and through luck, got to Flying Goat Farm just half an hour before official close of the open house. We also stopped at some yard sales and a bookstore.

Overall, a very pleasant day.

Carrie has an eager fan

click on a pic to get a better view

We The Peepers

Almost overnight it became Fall here. Trees have started to change color quite dramatically this past week. We decided to spend a little time today just driving around the area and admiring them. We swung by Hooper Pond and Lake Auburn as well as just tooling about.

Of course we stopped at some yard sales too. We also found a cemetery that had some Keiths as occupants. I'll be changing my Facebook pic soon.

click on a leaf to enlarge the pic

    

Aren't you jealous?

The photo to the left was taken on a recent stroll through the woods on our property.

The picture below is the view of our front yard from the bay window in the studio.

Click on each picture to get a bigger, more glorious view of fall foliage.

The Leaves They Are A Changing

Back in August when we had the cold snap, a few trees got fooled into thinking autumn had started. Most notably those early changers, the sumacs. But then we had the heat wave. (90 degree weather in Maine is a heat wave.) In our yard, one branch of one maple tree turned a lovely red. It still is, but a few other trees are now starting their color show as well. Nothing in our yard is as spectacular as that one maple branch yet, but yesterday we took a walk down the street and I took a few pictures. The new header is one of them. Nice time of year to be in Maine, eh?

After the Fall

We had a very rainy autumn this year, so although the trees were showing lots of color, the leaves got knocked off rather quickly. No long vistas of beautiful foliage lingering on as it slowly turned. This tree at work was one of the slower changing ones.

Color My World

A couple of weeks ago we noticed a few trees had one or two leaves or groups of leaves that were starting to change color. This past week it has become quite noticeable that Fall is upon us. The trees are still mostly green, but there is no denying that is changing and changing fast. Because of all the rain we had over the summer, we're hoping we'll have another season as spectacular as last year.

Yesterday we spent the morning at a huge "yard sale" held outside the raceway in Scarborough, then stopped and bought a few comics at Casa Blanca Comics in Portland, and finally took Pandora out for a long walk on Bradbury Mountain.

Today, Carrie is at work. This morning I'm trying to get computer things done, like scanning and emailing documents, transferring photos and music, and posting to Facebook. This afternoon I plan to draw a panel for Watusi.

Leaves of Absence

Autumn has arrived and the summer rains have made the foliage spectacular.