Take a virtual stroll...

While this is automatically being uploaded at 5 a.m. today, I will probably have already been up for an hour and will be calmly and carefully going over the checklist one last time to make sure I have not forgotten anything before we calmly and carefully walk to the car by 5:15 so that we can arrive at the airport, which is 100 miles away, in time to catch the flight. I am thinking only positive thoughts that the flight will leave on time so that I can make the connection in Dallas/Ft Worth to travel on to Los Angeles.

Seeing as I can't stand to waste anything, I guess I'll take y'all on a stroll through the field behind the house to the edge of the 150-acre woods, which is the western boundary of our land. I took these photos maybe 10 days ago, and they probably won't be"good" by the time I get back.

The field has become overgrown with pine and red cedar. And the boundary between the woods and the field has grown fuzzy now that the hickory and oak trees from the woods are beginning to slowly creep farther and farther into the field. Most of the color comes from the sumac.

There is quite a bit of sumac in the field. It produces red berries that are popular with the birds, which poop them out. The seeds sprout, and the sumac spreads.


It is a lovely patchwork of gold and brown to see the rolling Ozark hills from the window of a small airplane. Even though this area is sort of off the fall color radar, there are occasional blips.


There used to be barbed wire fence between our land and the woods, and a very important fence it was too. The owner had two big draft horse that were old and retired, but they still had quite a bit life left in them and once when the fence was down, they both came through the woods and onto our land. I was very afraid they were going to saunter out onto the highway and cause a terrible accident. And then I heard his voice calling them from the woods, and they turned around and galloped off home. And he fixed the fence.... but that was a long time ago, and now it is once again on the ground.


The woods are not particularly beautiful in terms of fall colors...


Oh, there’s a bit of brilliance here and there from a Virginia creeper up in a tree or small dogwood lurking at the base of an oak, but most of the trees here are the variety of oak where the leaves simply turn brown and fall to the ground. So, I can't begin to compete with some of the photographs of glorious fall colors that are appearing on the blogs, but I like the woods all the same

Because I will be on vacation until Oct 29, I guess the blog is going on vacation too, unless I change my mind and do something from my folks’ house.

In the meantime, that Wild Woman in Pennsylvania has given me an award. I am honored. I will think about who I want to pass the award on to and do something about it when I came back..