Sunset and pink clouds

Sun sets real early now. I was out with the dogs right when the sun dipped below the horizon, making the clouds and horizon pink and gold.

Aronia (chokeberry)

Aronia (chokeberry) is really beautiful and colorful right now. Sun is setting earlier and earlier each day.

Oak

The cool of the autumn still hasn't gotten all of the trees to drop their leaves. Like this oak here, mostly green still.

Then again, most of the maples have dropped all of their leaves already.

Frosty morning

This morning was the first one with a frost bite. Yesterday was already cold, but today the temperature was below zero and the ground was white with frost. The sun is shining brightly, making the air clear and crispy.

Bright red cherry trees

I have never before noticed how beautifully red cherry trees become in the autumn. 

Cucumbers and red currants

October has set in. Leaves are falling faster than anyone can rake them. Mushrooms are popping up in funny clusters. I was out in the yard doing a Littlest Pet Shop photoshoot and noticed that our unlucky plants have actually produced two sorry looking cucumbers. There are also some red currants, uneaten by birds, still in one of the already leafless bushes.

Icy

After a mostly very warm autumn, winter has shown its teeth this week, reminding everybody that the cold and snow is on its way again. Yesterday we had the first snow, sort of. Light white stuff fluttering around, settling on the ground for a while, making the roads slightly slippery here and there for half of the day. Today there is no snow left, but it is cold and windy and all the little creeks and puddles are frozen and even the ponds on the golf course are partly covered with a thin layer of ice.

Our Timmy, the dog that we got in late July, is puzzled and confused by th cold and ice. It's probably the first time he experiences them. And the need to wear a pullover. He seriously dislikes it...

 

 

 

Foliage and mushrooms

Autumn around here is starting to be at its best, with trees and undergrowth, like blueberry bushes, changing form green to yellow, orange and red. Many trees have lost all of their leaves already. Mushroms are everywhere, a lot of them already decaying.

 

Decaying frosty leaves

Another frosty morning today, after a week of rain. Leaves have started to decay, but today they were covered with frost. A couple of oak and buckeye leaves have found their way to the the otherwise birch and maple leaf ridden sidewalk by our house, from trees a little way down the street.

 

Morning moon

Two days ago, I woke up to my alarm, put on my house coat and started down the stairs, as usual. I lifted my eyes jp to our skylight, and I sawthe moon lurking behind the tall fir trees not far from our house, and a little bit of ice gathered on the window. Just see for yourself, behold, the not-so-good-quality photo. My hand was not exactly steady in the early morning...

 

A f ow it is just wet. Though the sun did come out for a while today. But still, everything is wet.

 

Frost

It's been below zero again the past nights. Yesterday morning we had no sun, and it actually snowed a bit in the day time (though melted as it touched the ground).

 

This morning we woke up to a frosty sunny day, the night's freeze having been enough to freeze the water in some garden containers. The colorful leaves on the deck and lawn, and the tall salads and that last flower standing were glistening in the sun.

 

 

 

Full moon

Last night was full moon and a clear sky.

 

Maples, maples

We went today to this area by the sea side, where maples were everywhere. And autumn as it is, the maple leaves were just everywhere!

 

Grilling

It was a beautiful sunny day today, and not all that cold. Since we were home instead of out hiking or something, we decided to do a bit of grilling on our yard. There won't be too many occasions for that anymore this year; the grill needs to be stored away soon for there's no telling when the snow will start falling.

 

Oregano hung up to dry

Four bunches of oregano hung up to dry. What a nice smell they brought to our home!

 

Autumn yard

Different plants react to the cooling of the weather so differently. Our tomatoes died long ago, and the pepper plants have wilted recetly. The chilis are still going strong, though, and the bell peppers have started to change color, despite being soft and wrinkled, probably due to the frost.

 

Basil has wilted (ok, we have neglected the watering too, and it has been a rather dry autumn), but oregano is doing good. Probably finally this weekend we'll get around to drying it. Parsley has gone into a new growth spurt, alongside with the chives. Thyme and rosemary are doing good too; actually, the rosemary never looked all summer long as good as it does now! Red salad has grown into 40-50 cm tall flowering salad towers.

 

The neighbors' cherry tree has become quite beautiful, with green, yellow and red leaves, all at the same time.

 

Autumn on our home street

The trees have finally turned all colors of foliage, and the first proper rain in weeks has set in. Our neighborhood is looking like autumn.

 

Fallen leaves

Maple leaves all fallen on a yard at Nurmijärvi, at the stables where my daughter goes horse back riding.

 

Quite many cattails were still brown, but some had turned into white fur already.

 

Things in our garden

Only today did I notice the *something* is in full bloom in our garden, October as it already is!

 

Our chilis are still going strong, even though the leaves have all but died in the firsy hard freezes last week.

 

Autumn in North-Eastern Finland

We drove up to Kuopio a couple days ago, just for a short visit. On our way back we drove through the beautiful lake area and visited my dairy farmer cousins on their farm. Swans were getting ready to move south, gathering up on the small lake behind the farm, where birches were yellow and the lake surface still enough to mirror the amazing autumn nature.