Leaves blanket everything.

The big oak behind the house is beautiful.

This ginkgo tree was a Mother’s Day gift 10 or 12 years ago.

In the woods, the elm leaves are bright yellow with spots of chocolate brown.

The red and orange sassafras leaves have already fallen. Only a few yellow ones remain.

The grasses will stay pretty all winter.

Even though we are in the waning days of autumn, a few flowers bloom here and there, around the yard.

Even the rhododendrons have put out some blossoms. I’ve never seen this bush bloom in the fall before.

And a few irises are reblooming. The purple iris from the family farm are always some of the earliest irises to bloom in the spring and we usually get a stalk or two in the fall.

The miniature iris ‘Baby Blessed’ is a great rebloomer. With enough moisture, it will rebloom several times during the season.

Some of the most beautiful days of the year occur in autumn. But autumn will wane quickly. Get out there and enjoy it while you can.

~~Rhonda

The twins had a ball, running around, picking up walnuts, looking at pumpkins, and riding the toy tractor.

Checking out the maze map.

Heading into the maze.

Walking a maze makes you thirsty!

I tried to get a picture of our three daughters and three grand-daughters together, but twins wanted nothing to do with such foolishness. They had things to do and places to go!

My camera was on the wrong setting when I took this picture, so the color is awful, but I’m posting it so you can see the awful bridge we had to cross to get to and from the farm. One skinny lane, and the railing on the right side of the picture was totally pushed over into a horizontal position. Yikes! And I’m *sure* there was an ogre nearby…

~~Rhonda

She’s twittering.

The trees were loaded…

…and the apples were beautiful…

…not to mention delicious.

The sky was blue and beautiful with big fluffy clouds.

Just enough to take home.

DD picked out a tiny pumpkin.

DS and DDIL

Looking for Granny Smiths.

DD found a new friend…Sammy, the orchard kitty.

On the way home, southern Illinois through the windshield.

The worst case of wind-blown corn I’ve ever seen. This wind damage was caused by leftover winds from Hurricane Ike. We saw a lot of damaged fields. This was the worst one.

There will be no combining of the above corn. Looks like a loss. But we saw lots of combining being done. Here, the farmer is harvesting soy beans.

It’s always good to get back home, even if it means getting back to painting.

~~Rhonda

Can dogwood leaves look any more glorious?

Flowers for next spring.

Virginia Creeper is supposed to turn a lovely red in the fall, but ours never has. Still beautiful, even if it’s not red.

There are a lot of volunteer mimosa trees along the edge of the woods.

Here’s a shot I wasn’t looking for. A fly sunning on the other side of the mimosa leaf.

Stunning sumac. How brilliant is that?

My hickory tree…dug it up in the woods at Old Salem Cemetery years ago.

The pin oaks are going to be pretty this year.

In the fenced garden, the sedum is beginning to recede. We can see Baby Bunny again. He was completely covered not so long ago.

The lavender is putting on a flush of blooms. I planted it next to the bench in the fenced garden. Love to smell it while I sit there.

Iris ‘Baby Blessed’ is a good rebloomer. A mini iris, it’s about 12″ tall, with a smallish flower. Smells like spring time.

The sky was so very blue yesterday.

We miss so much when we stay indoors… ~~Rhonda

I want to pick some for a winter bouquet and also need to get some for the Victorian Christmas tree. I might spritz them with a little white glitter spray for the tree. There is one fresh blossom. Seems a lot of the plants put out a few spring blossoms in the fall. Refreshing when everything else is fading.

The crabapple tree looked puny all summer. The leaves didn’t develop well. But it has put out a showing of fruit. Not as prolific as usual and maybe not as bright red as usual, but the birds will still enjoy the feast.

I think I showed you the asters before, but they are too pretty to ignore.

Surprise! A mushroom village erupted in the front yard this week. I like them so much, I mowed around them.

The little iris ‘Baby Blessed’ is blooming. It’s a great rebloomer. About 12″ tall, it will bloom off and on all summer. This week, we have quite a few blossoms. A whiff of spring in the midst of autumn.

Butterflies number three and four were released Thursday. They didn’t wait around for a photo op, but flew off as soon as they were out of the container.

The fifth butterfly to emerge (yesterday) was our first male. The male Black Swallowtail has a lot less blue than the female. Not sure why some are content to sit for a long time and others can’t wait to leap into the sky.

We still have twelve chrysalises and two caterpillars. The other day, DD watched one emerge, but I missed it. She pointed out another one and told me to watch it during the morning. She was sure it was ready to emerge. Well, sure enough…I walked into the kitchen about 10:00 a.m. and there it was, slowly waving its wings back and forth. Maybe I will be able to catch one of the remaining ones as the butterfly emerges.

~~Rhonda

A walk through the little woods behind our house…

Goldenrod.

Elderberry bush sans elderberries…isn’t the pinky red a beautiful color?

The sassafras are beautiful every year.

I love to take pictures at the end of the day. The soft light is so pretty on everything. The trees are just beginning to show some real change. More pictures to come in the days ahead. ~~Rhonda

The cedar trees are making berries. I wish they’d stay on the tree through Christmas, but they are usually gone by then. They’d be so pretty in Christmas garlands and wreaths.

Of course, the goldenrod is in full bloom.

The dogwood leaves are beginning to turn. The trees are loaded with blossoms for next year. This spring there were not many blossoms at all…not sure why. But next year, there should be a bountiful crop.

The coneflowers keep putting out blossoms. And the goldfinches are eagerly eating all the coneflower seeds they can find.

This little brown moth didn’t mind at having his picture taken.

Most of the daisies are done blooming, but there are one or two pretty blossoms in each clump.

All over the yard there are single blossoms on flowers that were blooming prolifically not so long ago. As though they are putting out one last effort before winter arrives.

~~Rhonda

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’

The cabbage white butterflies were hard to get a picture of. They can’t sit still for long.

The Buckeye butterflies seem to prefer the sedum ‘Autumn Joy.’

The path in the woods has a sprinkling of crunchy leaves.

This fuzzy little brown guy was resting on the white boneset.

The fall “weeds” are blooming.

Goldenrod

White Boneset

Jerusalem Artichoke

Smartweed

The Southern Oak is still green. It’s leaves will begin to turn yellow in October.

I didn’t get a picture of the asters…I need to do that. The dark purple ones are in full bloom. The ones from the family farm are just beginning to bloom. Soon they’ll be covered with blossoms and butterflies.

~~Rhonda