I was struck by the shadows of leaves falling on the trunks of aspens in the sunshine. I had never noticed this effect before- and then I saw it everywhere! For this image, I chose to convert the photo to black and white for emphasis.
When I was at Aspen Corner in Flagstaff in October, the aspens were still turning from green to gold. I wonder what they look like today!
Another ICM from our walk among the aspens!
We walked in and out of shadows and light as we made our way along the trails at Aspen Corner- a perfect way to welcome the arrival of autumn!
Fog and snow shrouded this scene up at Flagstaff’s Snow Bowl.
I do realize that this is the second blog post of the day, BUT I am trying to solve my image size problem on my own (WordPress still maintains it is an Apple problem). I changed the image size in my post earlier today to the default setting of Large (I have been using the Full Size setting for several years), and this morning’s image showed up correctly in emails. I’m trying again with a square image to see if it will work! You may see more posts in the next week as I test this out, so bear with me!
When starting our walk at Aspen Corner, we saw indications that others had been there before us.
Golden aspen leaves stood out among the green as we wandered along a path in Flagstaff last week. We are looking forward to a return trip in a couple weeks- fingers crossed we see them at their peak!
Although there are signs of Spring, winter has not loosened its grip. Although this photo is from two months ago, I could have taken a similar shot this week. Snow is only on the ground in patches currently, but it has snowed more days than not in the last week.
Although there were signs of Spring in the blossoming of fruit trees, Winter still had us in its grip last week. Days were cold with a few snow flurries, and the bare branches gave little evidence that it is Spring according to the calendar. The muted colors of this scene off the Peavine trail at Watson Lake reflect our muted lives these days, as we adhere to social distancing and develop new routines in our individual houses.
For me, these days are revolving around connecting with friends and family through phones and internet, planning and eating meals, hand washing (washing everything, it seems), ordering groceries online, editing photos, doing some organizing projects, and streaming and binge-watching TV series. It’s still a good life- it’s just pared down to the basics. So each day we choose to practice gratitude, appreciate our loved ones, focus on the positive and enjoy life as it is right now.
For the month of November, our church has been having us keep track of all the things we are grateful for- writing them down and saying them out loud. I am grateful for my wonderful family and friends- and this month especially I am grateful for my brand new bionic knee and the promise of a more active and pain free lifestyle!
And of course I’m grateful for autumn- my favorite season!
More aspens- these along the road as we drove up to Snowbowl.
We were fortunate to be in Flagstaff a couple weeks ago on a beautiful Fall day when the aspens were in all their glory. It made my heart happy to see so many other people up at Snowbowl, late on a weekday afternoon- everyone there just to catch the late afternoon sun hitting the aspens. Unforgettable!
Last week’s pink moon as it rose above the trees.
More Alaska today! This was taken on the trail at the beautiful Eagle River Nature Center (just down the road from where our daughter’s family lives).
Everywhere you look you see this GREEN! We were there only a few weeks ago, but I imagine that there are spots of fall color already. Summer is short and INTENSE!
melinda anderson photography 