September through November 19 2017

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted.



I knew I wasn't going to continue with the regular photo blogging.



I thought I'd at least continue having a monthly post.



I was surprised to see that my last post was after a beach trip in August.



I have missed visiting other photo bloggers but time and energy haven't permitted.



I decided I want to at least try to have a seasonal post roughly covering summer, fall, winter and spring.



This is roughly fall although where I live September is more a part of summer than fall.



One thing I do notice is we have a very long season of fall/autumn foliage.



The dogwoods and grasses begin to signal fall in September but most trees don't change in central NC until October and even November.



This year the early fall foliage was earlier than usual and the later fall foliage such as Oak trees was later than usual.



The North Carolina mountains are usually several weeks ahead of central NC with fall foliage.



This is an unusual fall because I didn't make it to the mountains.



There were quite a few late flowers but we've had a couple of hard freezes so they're mostly gone.



One reason I want to try to cover the seasons is I occasionally look back to my blog to see what kind of fall or spring, summer or winter we had.



The sculpture is from the outdoor part of the NC Museum of Art.



The shot below was one of the earlier fall ones in my neighborhood where it really looked like fall.



I kind of like the mix where some trees are vivid colors and other still have some green.



Bittersweet berries on my deck wall are a favorite seasonal color for me. 



It's always nice to see the cormorants return in the fall.



I'm not sure where they go in the summer.



The gulls at Shelley lake are back for the winter and although they are at other lakes in the summer they always leave my neighborhood lake in the spring.



Most of the trees still have leaves although the dogwoods and some maples have dropped their leaves. 



I think I'm nearing the end of the shots I picked out.



It's a good thing I have since I'm running out of something to say.



Happy Thanksgiving this coming Thursday! I'm grateful for a short work week among other things.

Vacation Shots

The first three shots are from a walk in central NC near where I live and the rest are from the NC coast about 150 miles from me. 



The ferns above are looking much better than they usually do in August.



The deer was playing peekaboo with me.



It has been a much better summer than we usually have in terms of not being too hot.



I was afraid it would be stormy while I was at the beach but it turned out better than expected.



There were some showers but it would stop at crucial moments like walking time.



And sunset time . . .



for lighted paths across the sound . . .



and moon rise with a lighted path across the ocean . . . 



I managed to have plenty of times for photography both while walking and sitting on the balcony.



There was even a blue sky on the sound side for breakfast at a Topsail restaurant.



There was less blue on the ocean side for walking but I love clouds.



I never got a shot of the pelicans dive bombing for food. This one settled way out in the ocean with his back turned.



I like the way the blue strip added an accent to the clouds over the dunes.



The only problem with a week off work is as it draws to an end I realize I should have taken two.



I may take a longer vacation this fall.



I even managed to avoid the news which is a very good thing stress wise although I am unfortunately caught up now.

July 2017 ending

After a stretch of hot and humid days we had a perfect Sunday for a walk.



I took these shots at Lake Lynn in Raleigh, NC.



Not much to say but I like to post at least a couple of times a month so later I can look back on the timing in nature.



We've had so much rain that in some regards this looks more like spring than summer.



With the heat if we hadn't had a lot of rain the vegetation would look a lot droopier.



If anything we've had an over abundance of rain for many years.



I still haven't forgot what a bad drought we had from around 2005 through 2008.



In 2007/2008 the local newspaper would say how many days were left before the reservoir would be used up.



Since the Falls Lake is a 12,410 acre reservoir it's incredible to remember that.



Fortunately it never did dry up and as I said if anything we've had an overabundance of rain for years now.



That's not true for the whole state but it is for where I live in the NC Piedmont but of course with weather it can always turn on a dime.