Autumn in Lansing, MI
Friday, October 16th, 2009I took a number of photos Tuesday, as I drove from commitment to commitment. The colors were amazing, I’m glad I had a few minutes to stop and see the colors. I’m happy to share them with you now.
It’s hard for me to see that autumn is already here. Last year we had the most miserable, unflinching winter in years and years. Then this summer it never got hot enough for us to put the air conditioner unit in the window. And now it is cold, we’ve had frost, and summer is gone before we even had a single really hot day.
I harvested the tomatoes not a whole week ago, when we got frost. This year I got one single red tomato. Ironically, four of the five I picked this week were from a plant called “Early Girl.” She did not give me the one red one I got earlier… and I had to pick her fruit at frost time, still green. That sort of tells you how summer was around here. She was “Maybe Girl” or “Whenever Girl” this year.
Actually, two of the picked tomatoes looked as though they were really trying to be yellow when I picked them. In only a handful of days, two are looking more red than yellow and two others are coming along for the ride. The smallest one may not turn at all, it was not on its plant long. However, that was the plant I got the red fruit from earlier, so we will forgive it.
For the record, I had a third plant. It did not even blossom. That’s what we got for summer this year.
The good news… colorful fall foliage. Incredible. Sometimes I notice in construction zones, that the leaves basically match the electric orange road signs. Nature can deliver a punch when she is good and ready!!!
Last photo: This cluster of climbing roses was going strong two Tuesdays ago (October 6). Cynthia and I passed by the Turner-Dodge mansion/garden and stepped over to see things more closely. The roses are mostly rose hips now, but this one bunch was quite more optimistic than I was. It was worthy of a photo to honor that late-season determination!