Autumn Ramble 1

Across the meadow at the entrance to Halibut Point State Park a stately evergreen gains reciprocal magnificence from a backdrop of fall foliage.

White fir

Although temperatures have been in the fifties and sixties, seasonal coloration in the landscape has been particularly vivid.  I'd always heard that cold weather is necessary to promote a good display.

Little bluestem grass

Low-angled sunlight in the morning  plays with delicacies on the quarry rim.

Black oak

Variegated leaves frame the grander panorama with the satisfaction of sympathetic forms and colors.

Tupelo

Skyward, fruit is maturing in the tupelo trees.

Cape May warbler, female

Some of the birds that migrated through  northward in the spring are returning in subdued plumage en route to tropical wintering, having shed the brilliant feathers of the breeding season. 


Showy goldenrod

The goldenrod stalks that so recently gave the moors spectacular flowers call for admiration of their own diaphanous intricacies. 


Staghorn sumac

I'm led to wonder, is this sense of beauty coming from the thing itself, the quality of the light, or the processes of my mind?

Orange grass, St. Johnswort

Progressive coloration within a patch of Orange grass illustrates the effort of the more drought-stressed plants on the thinnest soil to complete their full life cycle.

Birch, blueberry, oak

Adjacent pond water brings fortunate plants to prosperity.

Bittersweet

Twining oppressively through shrubs and trees, the prolific fruiting of non-native bittersweet demonstrates why the vine is cherished as an ornamental and despised as an invasive.

Bittersweet

On the shoreline its robust nature has free rein to less complicated judgments.