With this post I’ll offer the last of the images from Friday, or at least those that may be worth sharing. I usually keep a few pictures in reserve for grey days ahead, but somehow I seem always to find something to photograph, even then!
.
Over the weekend many of these leaves, not brought down by recent rain, were blown from the trees by gusty winds.
.
We’ve hardly had time to enjoy Fall this year.
.
It’s been such a strange year, beginning with the Spring that just could not get started and rain that did not cease, followed by many weeks with none that led to serious drought.
.
Considering that lengthy rain-free period, I ought perhaps to feel that it was a long Summer, yet the reverse is true, perhaps because our unusually cold Spring was prolonged.
Now Fall seems foreshortened, though maybe only visually. The Oracle suggests there will be warm days well into October.
But I don’t count on anything. It’s best not to.
.
Although we can generally count on seeing turkey vultures any time we’re out or even when we just glance out of a window.
Such birds always remind me of my infamous and single camping trip. The terrain in what is now South Sudan was very flat and devoid of features. At the end of one very long day our intrepid driver spotted the lonely skeleton of a tree and decided it would be as good a place as any to make camp. As we organised ourselves for the night, I spied a vulture perched on the tree and wondered if it was sizing us up for its next meal!
That was also the evening when Sheila, a hardened camper, told me that if a hyena came upon me in the night: “Oh, my dear! It will eat you!” Whereupon I decided I was in the company of lunatics.
.
Following Thursday’s hours of heavy rain, streams began to flow, much to our relief.
.
Without intending to, we found ourselves again in Hidden Valley.
.
Funny that we had trouble finding it when we were looking!
.
But it looked completely different this time, so it was an entirely new experience.
.
Many trees were tenaciously holding on to green.
.
Rounding a corner, we were impressed by this startling sight.
.
On final approach to home we noted that the swamp had acquired a couple of decent puddles though I have to report that in the absence of further rain they have since dried up.
.
Three minutes from home, the rain clouds were finally moving out.
.
Topping the hill another nice cluster of trees came into view.
.
September 26th seems to have been an inordinately long day!
.
Time to let it go!
.
Lovely as always. Hopefully next week’s promised rain and cooling weather will finally bring along fall.
Our Beetley countryside is battered by storm Amy today. Gusty winds, rain all day, dark enough to use house lights by midday. We have both stayed inside the house, with no intention of venturing out. You were brave to go camping in Sudan with Hyenas and Vultures, I wouldn’t have done that.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thank you, Carolyn, for the stunning photography and amusing remark about the lunatics, which made me laugh. The trees are still in full leaf, and so you will have a few more long days to snap the beautiful landscapes around you.
Joanna
Thank you for providing beautiful Fall pictures, as we will not have much arboreal beauty here. Unseasonably hot and terribly dry in Missouri.
Can you please arrange to keep your next storm instead of sending it on to the UK?
I’ll try a special rain dance with a reverse twist?
Video please!
I always think, when you write about your camping experience in South Sudan, if it were me, I would probably never go camping again after that (the hyena story would haunt me)! And the vulture in the tree would definitely not make me feel comfortable either. Even though this autumn season is not as colourful as previous seasons, it is still beautiful, and I enjoy your photos.