The Beauty Of The Season

In mid September, I got to spend a weekend at a friends cottage up at Gimli. It was a cool, windy weekend, but very relaxing. The leaves were just starting to turn, but what I noticed more than anything was that the geese were flying south. Hearing their honking as they flew over was a definite sign that the seasons were changing.

Back here in Winnipeg, it took another week or two for the leaves to really start turning. We've had some beautifully warm weather here for the last couple of weeks and limited amounts of frost, so the changing of the leaves has been more gradual. Some trees are still rather green.

As I said, the weather has been well above normal for the last while - in fact we broke a record on Wednesday October 5 with a high of 31.1C/88F! Our normal highs for this time of year should be about 13C/56F so the days of 25C/77F are very welcome!

I've been taking full advantage of the warm weather to get out and enjoy the beauty of the season.

Anyone who knows me, knows that autumn is my favourite season! I love the spectrum of colours that Mother Nature paints the landscapes as the season progresses. The crunch of the fallen leaves under my feet. The smells of wood fireplaces. The bountiful tastes and aromas of the garden harvests. A true seasonal feast for the senses!

In the last day or two, the weather has started to head to more seasonal norms. The winds have taken many leaves from the trees and we are expecting some rain this coming week. All good things must sadly come to an end.

I knew that change was inevitable, so a week ago Saturday, I grabbed my camera and went for a walk in a nearby park. It was a sunny but cool, windy morning - and I loved it! Then on Monday, I met my aunt to go for a walk in another local park.

The two parks are vastly different. With the exception of a couple of cement paths and a few wooden benches, the first is still somewhat rustic. The second is a huge park that has been almost entirely landscaped. Both are quite interesting - but in many ways I prefer the first as it reminds me more of being in the countryside at this time of year.

I took a lot of pics on those walks - about 120 or so on Saturday and about 80 on Monday! That may seem like an excessive amount, but as I've said in the past, I tend to take a LOT of pics when I pull out the camera. Despite having a 3" LCD screen on my camera to view the pic, with my lack of eyesight, I really can't tell what I've got till I get it onto the PC and see it in full screen. I often take two or more of pretty much the same shot so I'm more likely to get one that I can use. Occasionally, I get really lucky and surprise myself with how good a shot turns out!

So, earlier this week, I spent some time sorting and editing pics. I saved about half of what I took. From those, I've put together two new autumn slideshows from the two walks.

The first is called "An Autumn Morning Walk". All the pics were taken on October 1, 2011 along Wellington Crescent and in Munson Park.


The second is called "A Walk In The Park". All the pics were taken on Monday October 3, 2011 at Assiniboine Park.


If the leaves haven't all fallen where are you, I hope you will take a little time and get out to enjoy the beauty of the season!

dn