headed south

Sunday morning we were on our way to early service at church when I got the urge to drive to the farm, just to see the colors along the way. It's basically a three hour trip so it's not next door, but the day was gorgeous, we had no plans, and so as soon as church was over we headed south. We were not disappointed. The colors along the way were brilliant. I was pretty sure we would be disappointed in the end result since we had the big rainstorm the day before, but it was well worth it, even with lots of leaves on the ground. John wanted to mow a bit (of course he did), but my plan was to walk for a while and/or just sit on the porch. I ended up walking for two hours and kept my camera quite busy. I got very inspired for an art project so I followed through on that (you'll have to wait and see) but mostly I just walked. I challenged myself every 10 minutes or so to just stand very still and listen. It is amazing what sounds go on in the woods. Also each time I stood still I found something interesting to photograph. Can you tell I don't stand still very often? :) At one point I thought I was lost (there is about 20 acres of woods on our property) and I admit I came out of the woods much farther down than I thought I was, but it was an amazing walk. Two hours later John found me and wanted to know what I found. I drove him back to a few of the really interesting places (an atv would come in handy!) because I wasn't ready to walk it again but we'll be back down this weekend and I am eager to continue the exploration which of course I will share with anyone who cares to read about it.

These buds surprised me, and I was enamored by the mushroom stepping stones. Isn't it neat how a tree grows around an obstacle and i love multi-colored leaves.

of course if you want to see more you can check out my flickr (on the left) or my album on facebook