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| A massive White Oak is shedding like crazy |
I love the Autumn. Waking in crisp morning air and feeling the cool that lingers in the shadows after the sun has risen and warmed everything else. Autumn always feels like the start of the real new year — not January 1st. Maybe because that's when school started. Maybe because my birthday is on the first day of Autumn.
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| Found under a spreading Chestnut tree (no Smithy was standing there) |
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| The color of the wood is a clue that this is a Cherry tree |
I have always collected bright colored leaves as I walked my dog. I had no idea how many more options there are in New Jersey. The Colorado climate limits which trees can grow. When I walk this property and the neighborhood streets, I'm constantly amazed by how many more shapes and sizes there are. And now, they're my homework for the Master Gardeners Program. We're to make a Tree/Shrub ID Scrapbook with 5 conifers, 10 shrubs and 10 deciduous trees and describe their arrangement of leaves, the bark, flowers and fruit. Now when I walk the dog, I marvel at the amazing varieties of tree bark and look for identifying clues.
A few days ago, I watched an elderly Asian woman stomping on large hairy balls that were falling from a tree, then picking something up and collecting them in a bag. They turned out to be Chestnuts. Problem is there are four major kinds of chestnuts, so I have to study stem and leaf formations to be able label which one it is.
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| Cutting down an old tree |
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| A planter stand is all that's left |
FREE FALL
Last Monday, my husband and I celebrated my 60th birthday by parachuting from a plane. It was a spectacular day and we jumped through clouds to see vast green farm fields spreading around us. It was a beautiful and adrenaline-pumping way celebrate a milestone.
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| Jumping into my sixth decade! |
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