CBWC: Tree Art and Trees

FESTIVAL OF LEAVES Somehow, we all knew it was going to be the last perfect autumn day. Classes of local kids were out having a run in the woods. Everyone looked happy, including the teachers. On a day this beautiful, even the teachers were having fun! Today, as expected, it's raining, but it's going to get worse tonight with some heavy wind and intense, drenching rain.

Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Autumn Autumn began more or less overnight exactly one week ago. We've had a week of wild, flaming, extraordinary color. But the festival is probably going to end tomorrow because we are expecting the first of two heavy rain days. It's very likely that by Friday, the leaves will be gone. But not the pictures. There are a lot of them, and they will be popping up for a while to come.

So there I was in the kitchen. Being extra hands while Owen was creating Salisbury steak. I was looking out the window, which I do a lot because the birds have quite a circus in progress. And then, I saw a black bird. It might have been a starling, but it's that time of year again. About two weeks early. Usually they sweep in around Halloween.

SHARE YOUR WORLD 10-10-2022 One day, the trees were just thinking casually about getting involved with autumn September 30, 2022 October 8, 2022 A week later, Autumn arrived on steroids. I've been living in New England for 30 years, and I think this is the wildest autumn color I've ever seen. QUESTIONS Can we really know everything? No. It's hard enough to fully know one thing, much less everything.

Well, there were two problems. The first is that 1/4 cup is at two different levels on either side of the cup. You could put that down to some of the ounces being Imperial and the other being American, but frankly, three sets of measurements on one single cup measuring device is one measurement too many, especially because that 1/4 cup was too much soy sauce, and even the "American" 1/4 cup was off.

FOTD – October 13 – Mums I showed my colorful ones a few days ago, so here are my white ones. That pot is totally covered in flowers. Amazing blooming. This is the picture that alerted me to that hint of pink in these mums

Blogging Insights NF #57: Creative Clutter VS Neatness "I like working among 'creative clutter.' It gives me a sense of activity and achievement." — Fennel Hudson While I wholly approve of creative clutter, I'm extremely neat. I'm not neat because of some compulsive cleaning urge. I'm neat because if I'm not, I can't find anything. The older I get, the more I depend on things being where I expect to find them.

Living in the Twilight Zone, by Rich Paschall Perhaps you have seen the 1961 Twilight Zone episode, The Obsolete Man (season 2, episode 29). In it, a librarian, played by Burgess Meredith, is to be executed by the state because he is "obsolete." Librarians are no longer needed, and someone working in that job function has to die. I guess it is a little bit like today, where politicians ban books, making librarians obsolete.

FOTD – Chrysanthemums The world is on fire, but also the chrysanthemums on the deck are outrageous. I had to take some pictures. I've got another huge pot of all-white and cream-colored mums. Tomorrow.

Sunday Poser # 101 I don't give it nearly as much thought as I probably should. More than none. I know it's important, but I've got a lot of stuff going on these days. I don't have time to struggle with one title. I barely have enough time to write posts, edit them, re-edit them, then correct the typos in the corrections.

Owen said his bones were telling him that the weather is going to "do something." I have been feeling the same way and had gone back on medication yesterday. After being very quiet and not bad at all, my back locked up solid -- and I thought, "Uh oh ..." That this house is pretty chilly probably doesn't help, but I know I'm old because my son is old enough to know the future weather by which part of…

CWWC: Any Which Way with Autumn Leaves – Week 2 We are not talking about a political movement. We refer to the bright colors that are emerging all around the area at this time of year. Are there bright red colors in your part of the country? Do you live in the south where the fall colors never emerge, and most foliage stays green, or perhaps turns brown in the dry season? Follow us down the red road. Photos by Marilyn Armstrong, Garry Armstrong and RIch Paschall.

Festival of Leaves 2022 Week #3: Framed by the Dogwood FOTD – October 11 – Trees in the Revolutionary War Cemetery The Mumford River dam is conveniently located across the road from the Revolutionary War graveyard where the trees are tall and wide. It's interesting how quickly the trees pop with color along the river, but take much longer when they are not along a waterway.

The temperature is supposed to drop by at least 40 degrees tonight. I still haven't turned on my heat. I refuse. I never turn on the heat until mid November. I am not alone. Many people are absolutely phobic about turning on the heat early, especially with the price of heating oil as high as it is. But I am like this every year.

FOTD – October 9 – Glowing trees by the Mumford Dam It didn't freeze last night, but it got pretty close. In response, every tree lit up as though they were glowing from within. My ability to process photographs is being sorely tested. The colors are insanely, crazily, madly bright. They really look like that -- wildly bright with an intensity I have never seen.

FOTD: Old stones with fall foliage - a Revolutionary War cemetery The cemetery is in the center of the town, across from the dam and just a hundred or so yards from the river itself. It's up on a hill, so it never floods, even when the rivers rush over their banks. The people who created that cemetery knew about the rivers.

What our angry world does not need is even more pointless intolerance. There’s no excuse for not using a modicum of civility when dealing with others, especially in the workplace. It doesn’t matter how bad a day you’ve had. Do you know how bad the day of the person you are dealing with has been? Did you ask? Did you even think about him or her as a person?

FOTD – YELLOW LEAVES ON THE TREES Yellow with brilliant red patches. The world aglow with color and with the sun out? It's absolutely blinding!

FOTD – Yellow Begonias I always have a favorite summer flower. It was usually fuchsia until it became so difficult to find good fuchsias and none of the local nurseries are open. There are probably nurseries in other towns, but I haven't felt like making long drives in hopes of finding flowers somewhere. This summer, the yellow begonia Owen bought for me has been my favorite summer flower.

A Golden Autumn Evening Yellow trees and our gate It was a sunny day. A beautiful day. I painted a little piece of my front door that needed retouching because when we replaced the lock and door handle, it didn't precisely fit where the old one had been. Then, after that, it got gray for a while. I was sad that we couldn't have a single sunny day, uninterrupted.

Not yellow hair, but yellow leaves. It's the best I can do. Nothing Gold Can Stay Robert Frost Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf, So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day Nothing gold can stay. - Related articles…

FOTD – X is for Crossing Bridges in Autumn Foliage No Xeranthemums for me. Now, when there are autumnal bridges to cross and glorious fall foliage, you stop and catch your breath! Blackstone Canal What a difference from last week to this one. Between the time we left the house at around 2:30 and when we came home at just before five, the trees had changed even more.

CBWC: Candid Photography I am never sure what "candid" means since hardly anyone who isn't in show business or modeling gets formal photographs taken. Seriously, do we have any non-candid pictures? Night in the city

The RED Plan, by Rich Paschall You may not have heard, but the elections in many areas have been decided. No, it is not because of mail-in ballots or drop boxes. It is not because of voting machines either. This will be like other dictatorships. You will be told who wins no matter what the voting outcome. The right-wing so-called news channels will back up any misinformation that is spread.

I've been itching to draw for a while, but either I was too busy and couldn't spare the time or my hand was already sore, and I didn't want to press my luck. I'm amazed my hands still work considering what a lot of work they've had to do for me all these years. My most ambitious venture was our "attack" dove.

CMMC October Close-Up or Macro I was sure we hadn't taken a lot of pictures in September, but today I got around to backing up both August and September. I don't know why I procrastinate so long before getting around to doing a simple backup. August should have been done a month ago, but at least I got September done on time.

For some reason I’ve been thinking about the riddle of the Ship of Theseus. At this point, many of you are thinking: "What the hell is he talking about?" It’s about a famous philosophical thought experiment. I’ll let Wikipedia explain it. “Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment about whether an object that has had all of its original components replaced remains the same object.

FOTD - OCTOBER 6 - Water flowers They grow along the riverbanks and in the river. Some grow in swamps. All these plants want to live in the water or, at minimum, right next to it. I don't know the names of most of these plants. Factoid: Moose swim well. Their favorite food is water lilies. You can sometimes see them in the water, just their head showing, as they swim to whatever part of the lake has water lilies.

SHARE YOUR WORLD 10-5-2022 I didn't get around to clearing out my email for the past two days, so by this morning, there were more than 500 emails in my inbox. I would have found this link sooner if it hadn't been way down under the huge heap of stuff. It may be virtual, but it doesn't feel virtual. It feels entirely real.

CFFC: Where/What/When We Grow This can be taken in many ways. Are we talking about plants? Are we talking about people? Let us rise to the occasion and shine with our responses. Where does our garden grow? It could be out front. It could be wherever we have room/ We can grow in school. High School, really We can learn and grow at the library.

FOTD – October 5 – Violets I could have included Virginia Creeper, but I have a serious spite for vines, especially the strangling kind. Although Virginia Creeper isn't nearly as awful as wild grape vine, which will climb through your window during the night and strangle you in your sleep. Just saying Just as winter is turning to spring, up come the dandelions and violets…

Blogging Insights NF # 56 "Successful blogging is not about one-time hits. It’s about building a loyal following over time." — David Aston I don't know who David Aston is, but that's a pretty solid, reasonable statement. A lot of people -- especially youngsters -- start blogging without much sense of commitment. If they don't see a boom in followers pretty fast, they quit.

It took four big doves to finally get this stubborn Cardinal to move to another feeder. The doves aren't aggressive, but they really want the feeder. They are convinced it's THEIRS. I'm convinced it isn't. It's mine, but the doves WANT that feeder and get surprisingly desperate about guarding it, even when it's empty. Sitting at the edge of the feeder just munching on a few seeds…

By Richard Wright, Guest Blogger For freelance designers, illustrators, photographers, filmmakers, writers, and other creative professionals, the hardest part often isn't the craft; it's getting discovered. Visibility barriers for artists can keep standout work buried behind algorithms, crowded marketplaces, and unclear positioning, even when quality is high. That gap between talent and attention slows monetizing artistic work, turning consistent practice into inconsistent income.

CBWC: Trains or Train Tracks All photographs by Owen Kraus The train still runs. It can't exceed 5 mph because the tracks are not up to the task. The train doesn't really go anywhere. It used to go to all the factories along the Blackstone and its tributaries. It took people to work, hauled raw materials to the mills, and finished materials out.

CWWC: Any Which Way with Autumn Leaves The autumn leaves might drift past your window, but you might want to drift past the autumn leaves. When the weather is nice, it is good to stroll down the lane and watch nature in all its brilliant colors. It can amaze as if turn from green to gold and red and orange and brown.

FOTD – October 3 – Tulips I love tulips. I love them; the skunks love their bulbs, and the squirrels like the flowers and leaves. No part of our tulips goes to waste. These ruffled tulips remain my favorites

ONE-TO-THREE PROCESSING Well, as it turns out, unless you want to get into changing colors (a bright yellow or process blue Cardinal), they will look quite similar -- but there are differences. The Original Posterized Fresco Watercolor And just because, in black & white I don't see the point in applying changes that no one would ever use. I could turn this bird any color I want, but why?

ARE YOU READY FOR THE HOT SEAT? The "not stupid" people always greatly outnumber the "stupid" -- if indeed the stupid are as stupid as they act. I have serious doubts about how much of the nonsense they spout is real (even to them) and how much of it is play-acting and intended to throw us off our guard. Because how could they achieve anything if they are really that stupid?

FOTD – October 2 – S if for Spiderwort and Sunflowers Really, spiderwort is a wildflower. Very few people intentionally grow it. In fact, as far as I know -- at least around here -- I am the only one. I love it for its deep blue color. For reasons best known to the color spectrum and our cameras, I have a lot of trouble getting these deep blue flowers to show up the way your eyes see them.

FOTD - R is for rhododendron, roses, and ruffled petunias. Rhododendrons Roses Ruffled Petunias Note: This "Throwback Thursday" post is from October 1, 2022.

The above was originally posted on April 5, 2013, by Marilyn Armstrong.

Episode 1: The Campaign, by Arod Serling* Opening scene: Rural state rally, small town folks and area farmers in attendance. A candidate for office is at the podium. To the left of the stage are two of his aides. Candidate: “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of ’em, would you? Seriously. OK?

Not Quite Autumn: The Changing Seasons, September 2022 And so the seasons turn, and now it's autumn. The leaves are beginning their change, but aren't quite there yet. I think they will fully change during the next couple of days. The weather is perfect, with day temperatures down in the low 60s and in the low 40s by night. Not quite frost, but close.

CFFC: Where/What/When We Work Whether you work full-time, part-time, or no time, it always seems that there is work to do. For some mysterious reason, the work at home piles up when you are retired, no matter how hard you work at it. Perhaps we are slower or take more breaks. Whatever it is, the work never ends. "Workbench Machinery…

It was a perfect day to be a bird. Or, really, anything since the day was perfect. I bought new food just the other day, and the birds get really enthusiastic about fresh food. Although many birds flew in and out all day long, these few stayed around long enough for me to get a picture. A Tufted Titmouse Downy Woodpecker? Chickadee Goldfinch Flying Woodpecker

FOTD - STONECROP AND HYDRANGEAS Although there are a billion weeds, the hydrangeas are blooming with enthusiasm, as are the stonecrops. It's hard to get pictures of them amidst all the green weeds. But with the help of a very long lens from the deck above the garden, I got a few. Somehow, amidst the weeds, there are some flowers. Still!

FOTD – September 30 – Queen Anne’s Lace Queen Anne's Lace is pretty and a lot bushier than I remember it. I suppose I'd always seen it in fields where, compared to the trees and gates, it looked small. When it moved into my garden this year, it started really growing and before the rain stopped in May, it was four or five feet tall and bushy.

FOTD - P is for so many names, including "plant" itself! There are a lot of plants that begin with a P -- probably many more than I have here, but I'm trying to display a little self-control!