However we do have a few leaves

This is my backyard after most of the leaves have fallen in mid-November. There are still leaves on the trees but many have already fallen. The golden maples and the red maples are the prettiest, but the oaks and walnuts and other hardwoods are beautiful also. The problem of course, is that you have to rake them up.

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We normally have to blow the leaves or rake them or drag them in a tarp from the back yard to the front and pile them up on the curb. The city has a leaf pickup service that comes by twice during the Fall to vacuum up your leaves off the curb. They don't tell you exactly when they are coming, but they publish a schedule of when they will be in your area. My area is pending and will be next.

My son Darren visited me just in time to help me drag up the first batch to the curb. The leaves have not all fallen yet, so there will be many more to rake, but that's the price you pay for the beautiful color we enjoy. It becomes a part of your lifestyle and it actually is good exercise for old guys like me. (Not sure Darren would agree).

 

 

 

Cheryl likes to capture nature's little oddities, like leaves that are twice as large as your hand and azaleas that bloom in mid- November. We have thousands of acorns buried under the leaf piles and dozens of squirrels to dig them out.

 

 

The sun sets on another beautiful day in the Piedmont, maybe I can rake some more leaves tomorrow.

Not much color but we've got ducks

It rained almost every day for the last week in October and the first week in November so it was difficult to forage out and photograph the foliage. We usually have brilliant oranges, amazing reds and gorgeous golden leaves that not only lift up the beauty of the piedmont, but they also warm the hearts and minds of those who behold the sizzling colors of Fall. By the time one could venture out and check the old familiar spots that have always inspired the viewer, there was virtually no color palate left to see. The sun came out in the second week of November and revealed the late turning leaves and wildlife for all of us to admire.

 

 

 

 

 

It would also seem that the sunshine brought out the wild ducks and numerous song birds to enjoy the last gasp of warm sunny days before the bitter days of winter ensue. During that week of November my son Darren honored me with a week long visit and for a couple of days his niece and my granddaughter, Taylor, joined us in the quest for fall foliage and bird sightings. Cheryl and Darren and I visited the Bur-Mill Park trails over the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the heavily- timbered path that winds through the forest and borders the lake. It was a beautiful day and we were rewarded with the simple gifts of nature. Two pairs of mallards entertained us and evaded us when we drew near. But we sat and watched them paddle and strut by on a lovely pond near the lake. It relaxed the soul to watch these beautiful creatures as they leisurely meandered from one side of the pond to the other.

When Taylor arrived, Darren and I  accompanied her to the Greensboro water bog garden, which is a raised wooden pathway that follows a circuitous creek and crisscrosses through a marsh that leads to a small lake. Enroute we were delighted to view many birds and and several ducks feeding in the creek.

We also visited the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park which commemorates the Revolutionary battle where General Greene dealt a severe blow to General Cornwallis and his British army. Though Cornwallis won the battle, he was so severely crippled that he raced to hide at Yorktown VA where he was surrounded by Washington's entire army and eventually surrendered in defeat. The battlefield encompasses many acres of wooded trails that lead you to monuments that honor the heroes of the battle.

 

 

For me, it was a wonderful week of sharing with family and seeing places that I had not visited in the 24 years that I have lived in Greensboro. Foliage and ducks aside, family is what I love the most and what I treasure the most. I'm thankful for the time that I was allowed to share with some of those whom I love most.