slideshow: a few glimpses of fiery fall

I FEEL ANCHORED TO THE LAPTOP, TUCKED INSIDE WRITING madly to meet the book deadline I’ve assigned myself. But even a prisoner deserves a walk in the prison yard now and again, right? And so out I went, for a few minutes here and there the last week, and here’s the evidence:

Truth be told, I also went out to mow for hours at a time, though I haven’t mastered taking photos of myself doing that yet as proof. And then there were the last big pots to haul into the cellar during that freakish snow last Wednesday, but trust me: You don’t want to see how I looked that day. Ugh. Instead I tried to capture a few of the better moments.

Start the slideshow by clicking on the first thumbnail, then toggle between slides using the arrow beside the captions. Enjoy.

: Walking on the road to look at the hills here in their full fall color, I saw these Chinese lanterns that had self-sown on the shoulder. I’ve never grown them; wonder whose garden they escaped from here in Noweheresville?

: The color peaked last week, I suppose, and the view from up above the house all the way across to the Catskill Mountains was great on the clear days.

: Looking due north, same day.

: Heading down the hill to the house, through a fruit-laden mass of 12 crabapples.

: Alongside the much-younger crabapples, the biggest old apple is showing off its age and muscle.

: Below the house, by the driveway, a small tree I especially like called Acer pseudosieboldianum is hot orange. Like a Japanese maple, but from Korea, it’s tougher and doesn’t flinch in my winter weather.

: I grow a lot of twig dogwoods and willows for their fall and winter interest, including Cornus sanguinea ‘Winter Flame,’ whose green leaves turned peachy oranges and yellows this month and then will fall to reveal twigs that go from yellow at the base to coral and up to red at the tips. Spectacular.

: Last week, when the native maples were peaking, the one beside the garage (background of this shot) was magnificent.

: Every year I try to dig out some tall Aconitum that I planted in the wrong spot years back, but I never get it all…which I’m glad about this time of year, when its crazy purple blooms contrast against the color of the woods behind…

: …like this.

: The lady’s mantle was frozen solid this morning, our fifth hard frost I think.

: Before it got too cold I was determined to get three abandoned projects done. 1, Having a friend pave the silly strip of leftover grass that led to the fuel-oil inlet (just beyond the top of this photo; the front path, foreground, runs perpendicular to the new stones). Now I can shovel and sand easily to allow for deliveries.

: 2, Another useless cul-de-sac of grass that we’d never paved was the portion between the birdbath and the bench, meaning I’d haul the mower down there twice a week all summer to cut perhaps 75 isolated feet of scraggly grass. All gone!

: 3, And I finally got a piece of slate for the recycled iron base that held the glass kitchen tabletop of my childhood. The base has been standing naked for more than a year awaiting its new surface. Tada: Right in time (NOT) for dinners al fresco, or is that al freddo? Ice was coating the slate this morning.