Saturday Snapshot

 Saturday Snapshot is hosted by At Home with Books. To participate in this meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
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 In the last week our beautiful hillsides and foliage have turned blah and almost bare. The colors never last long enough. Now we have a yard full of leaves and brown trees. We also had a frost last night and most of my summer flowers froze. I hate that part too but now I can empty the planters and put them away for winter. I've been stowing away the lawn furniture but have plenty more to do before the snow flies. I even had to do the unthinkable - I had to take down my beloved hammock! Oh how sad that makes me. *sigh* Please keep me in your thoughts and maybe share a moment of silence... (especially you, Stacybuckeye! Someday you will get a hammock of your own. Until then you can lounge vicariously through mine. :D )

I did take plenty of photos of the wildflowers growing in our fields because I knew the were the last of the season. I have to share one more glimpse of autumn in my little part of the world. I hope you get to enjoy the beauty where you live as well!

My purple Mums on the porch

Purple Asters

I'm not sure what this  is - White Snakeroot?

Milkweeds

Goldenrods

Cassy with her favorite toy

Allie rolling in the leaves

Saturday Snapshot

 Saturday Snapshot is hosted by At Home with Books. To participate in this meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
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I just have to share more of my autumn photos! It's so beautiful here but it never lasts long enough. It already feels like it's on the way out today with colder temperatures and more leaves on the ground.

Our neighbor's barn and silo

The hills around our house

The view from our lane in the woods

Hubby and the girls going for a walk up the road

Allie posing in our field

So pretty against the blue sky!

Saturday Snapshot

 Saturday Snapshot is hosted by At Home with Books. To participate in this meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
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I haven't accomplished much around here this week but I have been having fun with the grandbabies and that is definitely keeping me busy! I've also been working on some photography projects for friends and family. I was able to take a few photos for myself as well since this is such a beautiful time of year.  The bright green hills and valleys are now popping with autumn colors. It's sad to think that it won't last long and we will soon have naked, brown trees, but there's time to worry about that later. I must savor the beautiful days we have now because they go by so quickly. In fact, I need to finish this post and head back outside. The hammock days of 2012 are numbered. *sigh* Here's a glimpse of my world!

The first tree in our yard to change colors every year

More beautiful with a brilliant blue sky

I still have my summer flowers - until a good frost comes along!

It's a sad, sad day

The time has come. It is with a heavy heart that I face my annual responsibility and put away my hammock until spring. Oh sorry, did you think I had some horrible disaster? Yep, that was sneaky but this is very traumatic for me every fall! I feel like there should be a brief ceremony and a bugle playing nearby. We have such a brief summer and our spring and autumn sometimes speed by in the blink of an eye. I love to be outside and the sunshine makes me happy. The green trees, blossoming flowers and freshly mown grass are a balm to my soul. I love to lounge in my hammock, barefoot with a good book. It calms me and makes me happy.

The change of seasons here is beautiful and there's plenty to do in those long (and I mean long!) winter months. The crisp weather brings a wonderful harvest and gorgeous colors along with the need to dig out the cozy sweaters, pretty scarves and fuzzy socks. But the older I get the more I long for summer. I certainly understand now why we have so many snowbirds (people who live here for the warm seasons than migrate south for the cold seasons). If I could afford two households I would do it too. I adapted to the Florida weather very quickly when we were on our recent vacation. Of course we were being pampered at a resort and it wasn't the middle of a sweltering July so we did have optimal conditions. Still, I think I could live in a hut on the beach just fine. Barefoot and with a book, of course.

Until then, my hammock is down and will be stowed away for several months. Luckily I have a cozy fireplace and a comfy couch (along with the requisite golden retriever) that are the perfect place to snuggle up and read. And I'm already wearing my fuzzy socks. How many months until spring?

(Yep, those are my tootsies in the Florida sand!)

Good-bye summer

Seasons in Western NY State

I love taking photos in the fall, especially around our house. After another large snowfall this winter I decided to try to take some photos of the same scenes from Autumn. I hope I can remember to do it in the Spring and Summer too. It's so beautiful here and I would love to have a comparison for a whole year. These are the most recent photos. It's hard to believe they are the same place, isn't it?

The hills...

the road...



the porch.

Beautiful!

Autumn in New York

Oh the colors...

A few weeks ago I realized that we had lost most of our leaves from the trees in our yard. Already! As you can see in the view from my front porch, most of them were now ground cover. We live in rural western NY state and have over 50 acres of land. I often like to take two of our dogs, the Golden Retriever and the Labrador Retriever, for walks on the hill. I decided that day to grab my camera and take some photos before it was too late for 2008. I'm so glad I did because that was the last week of leaves for our area. Although there are plenty of places that still have their beautiful colors, everything here has turned a drab and bare brown. We've even had a bit of snow! These photos aren't anything fancy, this camera isn't the best or most current model out there, but I love to take pictures and these are already special. Nature and my home. What could be better? I suppose I'll have to trudge out into the snow with my camera in the coming months to remind myself that the winter is just as beautiful. Although is it much colder. Maybe there will just be a few shots from the front porch again. Until summer.