A Yellow Harbinger of the Season

Yes, I know we are already deep into autumn but I wanted to share photos of my little mountain ash tree.  

This tree is always the first to change colors and I've been tracking it's progress since early October.  Most native trees in Eastern Oklahoma change in November so this little guy is our very own harbinger of autumn.

Over several weeks, one small patch of yellow spread to reveal this...

 Glorious spectacle!

Such a vibrant yellow!

Now it is November and my little mountain ash's show is but a lovely memory. I didn't post a photo of the poor naked thing because while I love autumn-- I also dread winter. And it's bare limbs are surely a grave portent of the bad to come...

Snow, ice, windchills, power outages and overall dreariness, ugh. 

But instead of moaning and groaning, I will enjoy the show all the other trees are putting on right now and dream of snow angels, snuggly sweaters, furry boots, cozy blankets, good reads, hot tea, cocoa, homemade soups, baking and...

Yeah, looking on the bright side is always better, isn't it.

What wonderful things are you looking forward to this winter?  Please share, I need more goodies to imagine to keep the winter dreads away.   

Linking to: 

Mellow Yellow Monday

Macro Monday

Mosaic Monday 

Creative Bloggers' Party

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A Curious Critter Watering Hole

Even during a hideous heat wave and drought,  there is always one spot by our house that stays lush and green.

Can you guess where?

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 By the central AC unit!

There is a narrow pvc pipe sticking out that drips.

One day this summer, I saw a most curious sight... a sight that I've never seen in twenty five years of living here.

A critter had created a little hollow to collect the dripping water!!

When I looked a day or two later...

A trough had been added.  Isn't that cool?! And what a clever critter! 

So which critter is responsible for this creation?

Any ideas?

I never spotted any tracks.  Our current dumped doggie isn't broke out with smarts so that leaves one of these resident wild critters:

Perry Possum?

Arnie Armadillo?

Rocky Raccoon?

Skippy Skunk? 

Gary Gopher?

Daryl Deer?

Terry Turtle?

Tommy Toad? 

Hmm...

Did Barry Beaver trek all the way from the woods to create a charming little watering hole?

I've got it!!

Barry Beaver is the construction boss and the others are the construction crew.

 Yep, sounds plausible to me.

What do you think?

By the way, I'm reading Wind In The Willows for the first time... Could you tell?  The book is darling. (especially for a Brit-tv and Brit-book loving anglophile like me) Have you ever read it? Can't believe I waited so long to read it! And it is all thanks to Risa of Bread Crumb Reads!  Thanks, Risa!   

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Yellow Wildflower

I love these yellow wildflowers.  And so does Mr. Buggy... but poor thing, he is all by his lonesome.

Ah, now it's a party!

Do you know the name of this flower? I checked the US Wildflower website for Oklahoma but couldn't find a match. 

Click here to see more macros at Lisa's Chaos.

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Spring Green

Spring is greening up nicely. All the trees are leafed out and we even had to mow!

This is a Mountain Ash that I planted years ago-- such a slowpoke grower. Maybe it would rather live on a mountain... I know I would!  Ozarks, maybe...

 This catalpa is a lazy grower too. And it has had nary a worm...

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More Bloomin' Trees!

The ornamental pear blossoms are long gone and the trees are now all leafy green--- But I had a few photos left to show and the blooms are so pretty.

Plus, I just discovered the mosaic maker on my freebie Photoscape editing program.  Duh, photoscape calls it 'pages' not 'mosaic'-- Who woulda thunk it?  

Did you see the mosaics I made for my little boy's birthday posts? Yes, I'm now mosaic mad!!

In fact, I think I will link up to Mosaic Monday for the first time!! Woohoo! A new photo meme!!   

One of the pear trees along our fence line.  See all the pear trees in the distance?  Every fence line and woodsy border looks like it is covered in giant cottonballs.

Our woods--- This is the opposite side of the field from the previous photo

The redbuds bloom about a week before the pear trees leaf out. Like the pears, redbuds only bloom a couple of weeks but it is a glorious couple of weeks!

Please visit Mosaic Monday at Little Red House to see more amazing mosaics!

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First Snow of Winter 2011

Not a big snow but the roads iced and school closed. Yay, Snow Day!

this tree has something growing on it...

a close up

snowy beaver dam

This vibrant red sure cheers up the dreary winter landscape!

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A Winter's Day Nature Walk

Beauty is where you find it and in the winter you take what you can get-- the starkness of an old dead tree against the bright blue sky caught our attention.

The grass in the back forty is almost as tall as Talon!

Can you spot him? I reckon he needs to trade the Elmer Fudd hat in for a pointy red gnome hat!

Talon is outstanding in his field! ;o)

He couldn't get enough of hiding-- kept saying: Can you see me? Of course, I pretended I couldn't-- except when snapping shots.

Checking out the creek with Gram

Fuzzy seed heads

Here are a few photo effect experiments from Picnik-- which do you like?

this is called Holga-ish

Sepia with red hat



Black and white with red hat



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At Posey Park...

Views from the top of the slide:

Many Oklahoma trees are misshapen from icestorms

Loved this steeple peeking through the trees-- I think I worked at this church a few years ago providing speech therapy to their preschool class.

Ground level views:

Broken glass doesn't belong at a park but it is a pretty color

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Lake Eufaula

This was taken Memorial Day weekend at Porum Landing (Corp of Engineers Park) on Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma.

OOOO-klahoma, where the wind comes whistling down the plain...

Because of the musical Oklahoma, many people think the state only has flat plains. But Eastern Oklahoma is green, hilly, woodsy, rocky and full of lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. Northeastern Oklahoma is where the foothills of the Ozarks begin and Southeastern Oklahoma has the Ouachita Mountain Range. I live smackdab in the middle of the two in a region known as Green Country. Just lovely, and there are no tumbleweeds...

To see more wonderfully wet photos, please visit Watery Wednesday.

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