Tuesday, October 5, 2010

October skies

I normally answer the Random Dozen on Wednesdays and because this week was Lid's birthday she asked folks to submit questions as her birthday gift.
I'm sure it's a struggle to come up with twelve random questions on a weekly basis and she deserved a break on her birthday.
Several of the questions this week were similar to ones I recently answered in a Q & A here and several others had a birthday theme.
I think we can all agree I've exhausted the subject of birthdays on my blog recently so I'm going to take the day off and talk about something else.

Like fall.

Now there's a topic that hasn't been mentioned much anywhere recently.

I never used to talk about the weather but it seems like I pretty much give a weather report at least once a week here.
Such is the life of an empty nester with no job, too much time on her hands, and all that blank Internet paper to fill.

Who else here loves fall?

Our backyard is woods pretty much as far as the eye can see.
We have a flat grassy back lawn with a big rock wall all the way round then a steep hill behind that is covered in woods.
I have never actually fully explored these woods but my hubs did go all the way to the top one day and said the view down the other side is a little bit like The Lion King.

Except of course without the lions.

Although, apparently there are mountain lions here and bobcats too, but no lions of the Simba variety because hey, this is NJ.

The main reason I don't venture up into our woods is because we have bear living there.
We know this because we see them on a regular basis.
Just yesterday my neighbor and I were emailing back and forth about something and she added, 'oh, and I just saw the baby bear run up your driveway.'
We see him pretty often and recently we saw two teenage brother bears having a little wrestling match right at the edge of our woods.
It was like a slap fest and was very cute and super entertaining to watch but only because we were sitting safely in our kitchen.
And no, I did not get close enough to actually verify the gender but they behaved exactly like two teenage brothers so we're going with that.

Anyway, this time of year is my favorite and I love watching the trees turn.
Our backyard gets a little more golden every day and I never get tired of looking at the color.
This particular little section of trees is just beautiful...


Incidentally, this photo is au natural and by that I mean no photo shop.
For one thing it wasn't necessary and for 2. I don't know how.


How about that sky?

We snapped this on Saturday just before heading out to meet up with friends who'd invited us to the local high school football game.
It was a positively gorgeous day (there's your weather update) and hubs and I racked our brains and concluded we hadn't been to a high school game since the early 80's.

I know.
Some of you reading here weren't even born in the early 80's.

Keep in mind that my own girls attended an International School in the UK and the school did not have a football team.
Well, they had a futbol team but not a football team if you know what I mean so no games.
Plenty of matches though.
Okay, I'll stop.

I learned something about myself last weekend.
I discovered that I can get all caught up in a high school game even when I no longer have kids that age living at home.
Nor do I need to know a single player on the team or even the parent of a player on the team.
My stomach was in an absolute knot by the end of the game which we won in the very last seconds.
By we I mean our town's high school to which I have zero connection but still...Go us!

We got home just in time to turn on the Tennessee-LSU game and I think we just won't talk about that.
I can't remember a crazier ending to a game...Tennessee was celebrating their most unlikely win when they were called back for a do-over because they had too many players on the field.
Agghhh!
We lost.
And by we I mean Tennessee, a team I adopted thru marriage but hey, I dare you to go to just one game in their stadium and then tell me it doesn't rank right up there as one of the most fun afternoons of your life.
Over 100,000 screaming fans dressed in a blaze of orange....
it doesn't get more 'fall' than that.

15 comments:

  1. I love fall, growing up in NJ it was my favorite season! Except the raking part, I come from a family of 5 girls and our yard was divided each having our own spot to rake! The memories...love being back on east coast most amazing colors! Too funny about the boy bears and scary too! Have a wonderful autumn day!

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  2. Love these pictures...our leaves in S Georgia are just beginning to turn, although with mostly pine trees and dogwoods, we don't get the gorgeous-ness that you do...love the bear sightings...I think I'd die if I saw a bear in my yard..we do have tons of deer out in the woods where I live...they just stand in the drive way and stare at me when I drive in like they can't believe I'm back on their turf...and finally, gotta love football...my last middle school game to watch is today...still have high school and college for a couple more months, but the most painful will be over at 6:45 tonight...I expect our record to hold.... :)

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  3. Your fall pictures are beautiful. We have had a really warm and dry fall this year so the trees have been slow to change colors. Our yard has lots of aspens that will, I hope, be beautiful soon.

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  4. I love fall! We're enjoying mid-eighties and gorgeous weather here, but of course there's no changing leaves. Post more pictures! I miss that!

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  5. I love fall, too. Guess what-I have photoshop, but all I can figure out is how to crop images.

    Bears are a deal breaker for me. I see deer all the time out here, but once I see a bear, it's "farewell, Ruralville!"

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  6. Fall colors are the best! My hubby and I spent this week last year in Wisconsin. It rained basically every day, but when the sun came out we dashed around to check out the beautiful trees.
    Also, my uncle was a HUGE Tennessee fan. Makes me smile when I hear about Tennessee playing.

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  7. A sky that gorgeous(blue) I have only ever seen back east-NJ/NY/ MA etc New England.....I just love that blue. We get nice skies here in VA. but never that shade....makes me homesick for Fall back home.

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  8. That is so cool that you can see the bears in your yard! But, I'd be cautious about going in the woods by myself, too. The trees are beautiful...bring on fall! :D

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  9. Beautiful straight out of camera pictures mom! Yeah, please stay out of the woods with the bears and mountain lions. thank you.
    love,
    daughter 1

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  10. What a beautiful skyline & trees. You are right to stay away from your little cub friends because you know Mama Bear is never far behind.

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  11. I'm glad you don't know how to do Photoshop. I thought I was the only one....

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  12. We are three now, then! I don't do Photoshop either!!
    But what a great Weather Report, bears and lions, etc. Beautiful pictures too and also agree with daughter 1 and Chirsitne who rightly reminds us that mother bear is never far behind.
    All in all a great read...

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  13. I love fall and your pictures are beautiful with all the colors. Football....not so much. haha

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  14. The trees are starting to change color, I do miss that. I'm glad you like football, I just can't get into it and I have tried. I wouldn't go walking there either. Bobcats, mountain lions and bear OH MY!

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  15. Well make that four...not a photoshopper. I also love fall, LOVE IT. Did I mention I live in California...not a real "fall" kind of state.

    I love high school football, the crisp air the cheering fans, competition, the silly teenagers. What's not to love.

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