Rain and wetness continued; meteorologists tell us to prepare for below-freezing temps overnight—the coldest since last January. Sounds like the potential for icy patches is high for rush hour tomorrow morning. I’ll stay in where it’s warm and dry!

Note that I’m not complaining about the rainy overcast days we’ve been having; people near the fires and in areas hit by hurricanes/tropical storms have it far worse.

Ghost pumpkins? Mummy pumpkins? On the other hand, maybe this design evokes a pop-culch meme I don’t know.

Red, red, red gerberas. With raindrops.

One more color!…because even with winter coming on, some plants remain green green green.

I especially like the pecan eyeballs on the right pumpkin. Aren’t pumpkins interesting when their essential orange-ness is removed?

We were on the move again today, and finally got out of the weather system we were in, and into sunshine! Brilliant sunshine! And colorful leaves.

It wasn’t all sunshine, and this was during one of the cloudy stretches. We saw many semis, and what seemed to us to be lots of oversize/wide loads. This load was a bi-lobed molded swimming pool; this is the end view.

Was it actually Wide Load Day, and we thought it was only Election Day?

I’m proud of everyone who voted in today’s election! Truly.

On my way to capture this golden sunrise…

…I saw ice on top of the water barrel.

Not too much later, the clouds rolled in and the sun became a bright spot behind the grey-blue, and late in the afternoon, which would have been a different time yesterday, the rain blew in.

So, time to mobilize. But, let’s round up odds and end first, and finish the closing activities tomorrow.

Different grass grows in the well-watered swale, compared to the rest of the field.

Even smaller beings than these shelf fungi and the green, green moss are in the process of breaking down this stump. Dead-wood is becoming high-nutrient organic matter* in the soil.

Today’s lake view photo. Light off-shore breeze means quiet waters.

* “Organic matter” was a favorite phrase of the Botanist.

While roaming today, I ventured into our woods. Here’s the view from the bluff across the likely-to-have-poison-ivy flats toward the lake.

The low angle of the sun means the opposite, 180° view is totally different. Almost bland in comparison, but actually quite interesting in the detail. Most of these trees are maples. I think.

And today’s selected lake-view shot, across the tree-root art.

Rather nippy today (the sunshine you see in these shots was intermittent), so we have a fire in the stove. An internet search suggests it’s a coal furnace, so maybe that’s why it sometimes can be ticklish, tricky, and vexing to burn wood. Anyway, see the smoke? We are toasty; it got up to 89°, but is cooling now—just a pleasant 83° at neck height, less if you’re sitting. As I am.

Over and out.

On this sunny day, we made a run to MQT. Droney made a run, too, shooting the city and this monument to downtown industrialization. Now, the remaining action is north of the city-core.

I was on the ground and had a different view of the structure. [Many people we saw around town had makeup and costumes of some sort; Happy Halloween!]

The Seney stretch is legendary for being straight and flat—for more than 25 miles! The tamaracks (Larix laricina) were golden; they are in the pine family and deciduous.

There was also gold on the ground (a few places). I remember being pretty small and Dad stopping the car on the Seney stretch somewhere to show us Michigan lilies (Lilium michiganense)—which grows in a much greater area than the state of Michigan.

Today’s sun-preparing-to-set shot of “our” lake.

I loved the orange at dawn. So clear.

An hour-and-a-half later, it was like a different day, perhaps a different world. A fog (cloud?) set in, and the dawn tints gone, and the color palette diminished.

By mid-afternoon, it was seriously overcast, a solid layer of blue-grey above.

At the beach, well, no beach, and a south wind sending the waves kicking up the leaves that had been floating aimlessly yesterday like poetic dabs on the lake. No more.

And by full dark, it was spitting rain. Sigh.

There’s a saying in these parts along the lines of “if you don’t like the weather, wait five miniutes,” or an hour. This was a day that fit that to a “T.”

Even before sunrise, you could tell the grey and rain were gone gone gone, and it was clear and beautiful out.

There was a bit of a breeze before we entered these woods to find standing water—did I mention the last two weeks (or more?) have been rainy….

As we backtracked and left the woods, we scared up this quartet of white flags. They did not stay to get acquainted.

Okay, mandatory lake shot. We did so enjoy the sunshine. The solar gain worked on the “front” porch, and it even got warmer than the house! We did little work today, mostly basked in the sun/sun-warmth and Someone took a nice nap.

Rock. Lake. View.

Under grey skies.