November 1st 2025

 As usual on the first day of the month, I am posting the new calendar photo.

The pumpkins sleep, the moon slips low,

A hush drapes trees in amber glow.

The air is crisp, the shadows thin—

 November’s first breath drifts gently in.

Ginkos

 The Ginko trees have turned yellow, and every year I love to post them!

They are living fossils, having survived the Jurassic period. They have existed unchanged for 270 million years. This makes it the oldest tree on earth, a living link to the dinosaurs.

There is one in China that is 3,500 years old.

You can tell a Ginko because it's leaves are shaped like little fans.

Many of their fossils are about 270 million years old!

“A childhood is what anyone wants to remember of it. It leaves behind no fossils, except perhaps in fiction.” ~Carol Shields

Halloween Humor

 These are a few that I really like!

This owl stole a hobby horse and flew around with it. Looked just like a witch.

·       What happens when a vampire tries to trick or treat in the snow?

Frost bite!

 

·       Why did the ghost starch his sheet? 

He wanted everyone scared stiff.

Cat Vs. Cow!

 The Big Cat and the Big Cow are ready for Halloween. You be the judge of which is the best. First up, The Cat.

The Big Cat was even accompanied by a REAL black cat!!! I think he was envious of the sparkly skirt.

Now, on to The Big Cow. The strangest costume I have seen him in. 

 “Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.” 

— Mason Cooley

The Pumpkins

 Here are some pumpkins around town. You may remember our next-door neighbor has a tiny pumpkin patch by our driveway. They finally cut it back.

They now have the pumpkins lined up on a fence.

I thought this was cute. A neighbor put some on a decorative chair.

I loved how the light was on these.

Cucurbita! 

SO orange!

Hay there!

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” — Henry David Thoreau

Favorite Fall Images

 I found these images on the web. I think they are both gorgeous and slightly spooky. Do you have a favorite? Enjoy.

 “Everything seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet. Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like the plumes of funeral parades. From kitchen windows drifted two pumpkin smells: gourds being cut, pies being baked.” 

— Ray Bradbury

Sunday Sunset - Sort Of...

 Heading out to find the setting sun, you can see that we were a bit too late.

No matter. On the way home, I thought the cemetery looked lovely in the growing twilight.

Coincidental that we came upon the license plate?

Gravestones lean in twilight’s breath,

 soft as silence, still as death.

Moths drift low on velvet wings,

 night begins its whisperings.

 A single star, a lantern high—

hope flickers in the darkening sky.

The Best Of The Rest

 Here are the rest of the fall decorated houses from our neighborhood. Except for this first one, which is in front of the garden center.

“It looked like the world was covered in a cobbler crust of brown sugar and cinnamon.” – Sarah Addison Allen

Off Today & Proof Of Delivery

 I will not be blogging today, as we will be going out of town for the day. Hope to see you on Friday! Have you been ordering any gifts from Amazon yet? Then you may appreciate this funny photo.

Pour Down Like Silver

 The silver maple trees are at their most slivery now! The leaves dance and shine in the breeze.

“Silver maples don’t shout—they shimmer. Each leaf catches the light like a whispered secret between the wind and the sky.”