Dallas here.
Guess what? It’s b-a-a-a-c-k!!
Snow fell overnight. . . .
We only got a dusting Tuesday morning, according to mama, who keeps up with that sort of thing.
But when she let me out and I saw it, I went crazy.
I love snow.
On my nose, on my furs, everywhere.
My favorite thing is to roll in it!
But mama says it’s early for snow. We’ve still got leaves on the trees.
And on the ground
How cool is that?!
I am the daughter of a veteran.
My late dad served in the U.S. Navy, but true to some unwritten code, he rarely talked about it.
Last week marked the end of an era, of sorts.
Something that had been sitting in our garage for many years — something that once had seen a lot of use, though not so much lately — is now but a memory.
I’m talking about my late dad’s riding lawn mower.
I took a different route on my walk this afternoon, and was rewarded with some magnificent fall scenery.
Join me, won’t you? I’d love your company!
By the way, it’s about 63 degrees and rather damp, thanks to a dense fog overnight. You might want to wear a light jacket.
And walking shoes.
I’ve talked with people who don’t like Fall.
Nature dies off, they reason. And Fall portends the coming of winter and cold weather.
True. The leaves of our cherry tree are starting to turn:
Cherry tree, early Fall
And so are the Dogwood’s:
Dogwood, early Fall
It all started with the apple tree.
I know, everything did start with an apple tree — well, not literally because we don’t know whether it was an apple or some other type of fruit that Eve ate in the Garden of Eden.
But I digress. This story starts with an apple tree.
An apple tree planted many years ago by one of our long-gone neighbors.
An apple tree that, despite our present neighbor’s inattention — no watering, no spraying, nothing — inexplicably has produced a bumper crop this year.
Witness:
Don’t they look tempting?
Because it’s been so beastly hot in these parts lately, I decided to water our flowers, shrubs, and trees the other evening.
Now I’ve never been convinced that city water, from a hose, does as much good as the rain that Mother Nature sends, but I suppose some moisture is better than nothing.
As I watered what I call Domer’s tree (a large maple that was planted when he was just a little guy), I noticed something creepy on one of the branches. Here’s what I saw:
Eeew, creepy!
I turned the hose full onto it, finally shaking it down to the ground. Then I made my way to the backyard and found this:
Another one, just like the other one
Nasty-looking, aren’t they? Do you have them where you live? Do you know what they are?
As another back-to-school season begins, I’m reminded of one day during my elementary school years — a day when my pickiness nearly got the best of me.
I attended Catholic school. Nuns in full habit were our teachers, for the most part, and Mass was required a couple of times a week.
Lunch hour consisted of a hot meal. No brown bags.
The hair-netted lunch ladies would ladle out our food on trays, with separated portions for the veggies, fruit, main meat, etc.
Sometimes it was good. Other times, it was awful.
This one day was of the latter.
Peas were on the menu.
Sometimes a picture really does say more than a thousand words.
I’ve long been fascinated with weather. It affects all of us all the time, from the picnickers forced inside because of rain to the farmers frantic over a drought or early freeze.
Today we in Central Illinois are looking forward to the arrival of a cold front. Our forecasters promise us it will bring cooler weather and much lower humidity, two things that spell “relief” in the dog days of July. Since clouds are the harbingers of weather changes, I turned my camera skyward to see if they’re going to be right:
Looking south from my patio.
Almost looks like snow, huh?
These toward the north look even more like snow.
I can only imagine what fun God must have had creating these!
My late dad used to call wispy clouds like these mare’s tails.
Cirrus clouds indicate a weather change in 24 hours.
It’s supposed to drop down to 56 degrees tonight — turn off the A/C and open the windows!
I’m over at The Oma Today Project this afternoon. Won’t you come by and see my “date” for one of Central Illinois’ premiere festivals??
Musings by an ND Domer's Mom 