Morning walks

purple weeds with red fallen leaves

Wow, 2 posts  in one day after a month of no postings. I had written this post yesterday, but accidently deleted it...urgh!!! Hate when that happens.

Recently I started walking again, as I want to lose some weight. You know the nasty 4 letter word.. D-I-E-T? Well, I am watching what I eat, eating smaller portions, trying to eat more fresh veggies and fruit. I use to walk 3 miles every morning and then again in the evening with our beloved golden retriever, Bear, but after he had to be put down due to cancer, the walks just weren't the same. I fell into a rut and just stopped. Anyway, now that I have started walking again, I find it very relaxing. I love being outside in the fresh air, and I just let my mind wander. Great stress reliever.

But, I want to love 20 plus pounds before I head to Florida in the spring.  On my walks, I carry my camera in my pocket to take photos of anything that catches my fancy.

bittersweet berries starting to turn color, soon they will be orange. the leaves have already been frosted by the cold nights.

tea berry plant and berry. As a child did you ever eat teaberries? We did, and loved them. If you have chewed teaberry gum the gum taste just like the berries.

most teaberry plants have 2 berries. On the plant above, I ate one of the berries

3 mushrooms pushing up thru the pine needles

  dome shaped mushroom

 

top of mushroom

  side view

puff ball. Don't know the real name of these, but as kids we loved to step on them and watch the puff of smoke like stuff come out of them.

bottom of the puff ball

this mushroom was in my aunts yard, and reminded me of a piece of brain coral.

A short you tube video that my niece did. Click here: just using 3 watercolor paints for your nature journal

Yesterday morning I emptied 2.5 inches of rain from the rain gauge, and today it is raining again, but our cranberry harvest continues rain or shine.

Have a wonderful day.

Elaine

Fall Festival Family Day at Assumption

foliage starting to change in central Massachusetts

Yesterday I went to Assumption College in Worcester, MA to see my oldest granddaughter, Katie. It was family day at the college. The college grounds are beautiful. I had never seen the college before. We saw Katie's room, dorm, and Katie gave us a tour of the whole campus and had a lovely brunch in the lunch room.

berries dripping raindrops on the collage grounds

don't know what kind of tree this is, but the bumpy fruit was pretty

The weather was overcast, and a little chilly but at least the rain had stopped. The night before we got 2.5 inches of rain, and it is raining again this morning.

Lily and Katie

Tommy, Kelley, Lily and Katie

near the football field

        taking off

flew to light post with it's dinner

The red tail hawk above had caught a squirrel. I was able to get about 5 feet to take the above photos. I only posted a few of the pics I took, because I know some would find them disturbing, but it is nature, and to survive the birds must eat. I know..gross, but I couldn't pass up this opportunity of capturing this large bird of prey when the opportunity presented itself. A staff member told me that the hawk is around the college grounds.

After leaving the college my son drove me around to show me some of the area.

one of the lions on the front of the newly refurbished Union Square Railroad Station.

foliage starting to turn in the Blackstone Valley area.

 

Millbury, MA..

my son has taken classes here

and Tommy built did the beam work for the wavy covering over the walkway

Elaine

Wet harvesting of Cranberries- video

wet harvesting..machines knocking the ripe cranberries off of the cranberry vines. The berries float up, and are corralled into one corner of the bog to be suctioned up with a pump to a tractor trailer bed, and then brought to Ocean Spray. Cranberries that are wet harvested are used for juice, sauce and Craisins (sweetened dried cranberries)
If you follow my blog you know that my family are cranberry growers, and that we sell our cranberry crop to Ocean Spray. Click on this link..Cranberry Harvest video filmed by my niece , Sarah of her dad who is my older brother. In this short you tube video, Larry explains the wet cranberry harvest.
More photos of cranberries on my picture trail site in the  first album...cranberry
Yesterday as I was taking a walk I couldn't help but notice that there were lots of big acorns on the ground. I'm hoping this doesn't mean we will have a long, hard winter. If you believe in the old farmers almanac there is a saying lots of pine cones and acorns means a long, cold winter to come. Keeping my fingers crossed that isn't so. 

Nature's Treasures..odd rocks....rectangular and flat round. I love the round one.

pretty black shape and barred approx. 5 inches long . I think it is from a dove.
cardinal feathers found near the bird bath
Ginko leaves turning color...taken in Plymouth at my parents doctors. Pretty, don't you think?

moss with spores that is on a branch that fell from my mountain ash tree on the front lawn. This moss is so soft when fresh, hard when dried out, but when it is again wet turns soft again.
That's it for this morning. I have no art to share today.
Elaine

I'm still here

It has been almost a month since I last sat and wrote on my blog. How time flies, doesn't it?  Summer was busy and has now come and gone, and fall is making itself known. We've had cold nights, nippy mornings, but still the days are sunny and warm. Leaves are starting to change color and some are already falling. Our vegetable garden has been hit by frost, and  I will miss having garden fresh tomatoes.  The worst part of fall is that it gets dark outside early. Summer passes too quickly and winter seems to stay around forever. Fall is also apple picking time,  and I've already made 3 apple pies, homemade applesauce, and cranberry orange nut breads..so yummy.

And, of course fall to our family means it's time to harvest the cranberry crop. Our harvest  started once again a couple of weeks ago.  The bogs are so pretty flooded with water with a sea of red berries floating waiting to be taken off the bog and brought to the Ocean Spray plant to be made into juice and sauce.                                    newspaper article on the cranberry harvest, Brockton Enterprise, Friday, September 21, 2012.

What have I been doing in my absence? I'm still making jams, canning pickles and now canning home made jellied cranberry sauce. I haven't had time to create any art, but yesterday and today I had the sewing machine out and I made 3 new pillow cases.

Hello Kitty, Halloween and Snowmen

This afternoon I cleaned out my elderly aunts spare room so a new washer and dryer can be put upstairs. With the washer and dryer upstairs she doesn't have to climb her steep cellar stairs and it is much safer for her.  Tomorrow I take my parents to doctor appointments and then grocery shopping. Thursday, I will get a much needed haircut, Friday the car needs to go to the garage for an oil change, Saturday I will be going to my granddaughter, Katie's Fall Festival at Assumption College where she is a freshman.

Thank you to all of you who have stayed faithful and continue to check and read my blog.

Elaine