Yeah, it was overcast again, this morning, but bright enough at 10:45am that you could see (and, of course, hear) the waves rolling in courtesy of a good south wind. In the afternoon, it was mostly sunny, and we reaped the benefit of the solar gain on the sun porch.

Not 15 minutes later, I took this photo, different angle…looked like a low sun situation…but wasn’t, just strange light through the overcast.

Meanwhile, over at the garden we’re watching, the broccoli was getting away from me. Happens this time of the year. The blossoming stalks are all pruned back for now, with the salvageable ones consumed!

Still this morning after the turbulence of the last two days. The caulk fix the Guru implemented on the rain barrel is holding!

Not yet seeing milkweed seeds floating around, as the pods are still desicating.

Found this bold lichen on the neighbors’ gate. Tough surface, but a bit sheltered.

The afternoon sun warmed the porch to the mid-70s, warm enough to dine here. Outdoors the temp dropping fast toward an overnight low in the upper 40s.

Today was a Foley food mill day. And in autumn, that means…

…applesauce! You keep processing and squeeze the last juices out of the peels—and that yields a nice pink color not yet visible in the sauce. Tasty!—and with a minimum of added sugar.

Picking the broccoli for dinner tonight, I saw the sun had come out to highlight the blossoms. The plants are getting ready for winter!

Out picking apples to make apple sauce…and look what I found! The same tree had another big puffball, too. I found none under other trees.

Little rollers coming in this afternoon; kinda breezy, but, as I mentioned yesterday, no Florence!

Over in the Refuge, we found this bee. I don’t know much about insect types, but this merged yellow-and-orange striped tinting of this bumble? bee, doesn’t seem familiar.

Also on the wildlife walk, we found rose hips. No rose feet, however. And, no, we didn’t collect any. National property regs, you know.

I don’t think we’ve ever skipped visiting the mouth of Hurricane Creek when we’ve been up that way. We found that the present configuration has a long sand spit channeling the brownish river water to the west before the actual merge with Lake Superior. [No lampreys attached to rocks—that I could see—this time, unlike in July.]

Look at this bright green stone! Seems out of place among the browns and greys! For a moment, I even wondered if it was a plant! Not a plant-plant, but a joke-fake-plant. Skeptical me!

This is new mown not new moon. We did outdoor chores today, which principally meant hacking back vegetation—e.g., grass mowing, weed pulling, shrub trimming.

Some of the sweet peas are still blooming. There’s a house on the way to Newberry that has been abandoned for something like thirty years and no one mows around it—and the peas are still going great guns (much more than here), with a good variety of pinks, even toward pale, pale pink.

Skew the pronunciation of the title’s last word to the Spanish, and it’ll rhyme.

Ah, autumn flowers…Goo_ing suggests that this is a late purple aster. Looks like an aster. Color can accurately be called purple. And it’s late in the season. So, on the surface, I’ll take “late purple aster…” plus the photos match—heehee.

Sorry to those who are not fans of fluttery creatures. I could not tell what was up with this one (fluttering but “stuck” to the plant)…however, I did manage to get a frame of the wings (reasonably) “in focus,” not an easy task!

Stay warm; it’s getting chilly out!

Raininess that began overnight extended through most of the morning; when the dripping stopped I headed over to The Garden, and harvested a few bits courtesy of the Gardener. Treats!

In the afternoon, steaminess descended as it warmed up a bit (a bit more, actually; it was never chilly), and I found a leaf fighting the changing season. And a leaf miner.

We had a ground-fog morning—still, with heavy dew. So, so pretty.

Later, I was out and found this Boletus—breakfast-lunch-and-dinner for a slug. I came by again not five minutes later, and the slug had moved on. Full, I surmised.

In the fields and open areas, the predominant bloomer during this phase of the season is the goldenrod. Sooooo many times it sports these galls…I forget which insect has deposited the next generation in the stem, and the plant makes the gall around the eggs/whatever.

Yesterday’s wind made beach foam!

I wondered if it left us discombobulated leeches, too…only found two small ones…maybe the cycle of life means mostly/only small ones/new crop…. TMI, I’m guessing.