Oct 312014
 

Today was overcast and breezy, not quite cold but suggesting a change in the air.  It was late afternoon when I set out, and perhaps sixty degrees; tomorrow, the forecast calls for winds up to 35 mph and a high barely exceeding fifty.  The tree leaves’ changing colors stood out magnificently against the gray sky.  Here are two images of autumn splendor from the walk:  the first is an impressionistic shot of the foliage of a sassafras tree along the road; the second, an image of three oak leaves and the spaces between (and within).

 

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Oct 292014
 

I so rarely photograph the road upon which I walk as part of the landscape.  The gravel bed has served as background for many an image. But for some reason, I have not often felt inspired to photograph the immediate roadscape (to coin an awkward term).  Today was deep autumn, with an overcast sky and breeze after morning rain, and the trees were approaching a peak of color — or at least, the trees that do not forgo the entire process to pass summarily from green to brown, perhaps with a muted yellow en route.  So this was the result.

 

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Oct 282014
 

Autumn is such a magnificent season. Here, a red curtain formed by a single changing leaf (possibly Sourwood) hangs above a backdrop of golden yellow, green, and brown against a blue and white sky.  I am enveloped by Fall on this mild mid-afternoon, somewhere along Piney Woods Church Road.

 

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Oct 272014
 

I celebrate my 300th day of the Piney Woods Church Road Project with this image of a shriveled leaf connected to a twig with a network of spider threads, against the backdrop of the open road.  I thought of the title for this image just after taking the photo, but only after arriving home did I appreciate the pun involved.  My project this year has taken place in two locations:  the physical landscape of a dirt road near my home, and the virtual landscape of the Web — in particular, here on my blog and on Facebook as well.  Today, I celebrate the web and the road, and my pilgrimage which weaves them together.

 

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Oct 252014
 

As I made my way along the new wooden horse fence bordering Piney Woods Church Road this afternoon, who did I see by an old friend from months earlier, the Rough Stink Bug (Brochymena quadripustulata).  I didn’t recognize him (her?) at first; the edges of his abdomen had largely lost their brilliant red fringing from earlier in the season, but I could still discern those telltale red bumps on his back (the pustulata part of his name).  He lingered long enough for an extended photo session, the fruit of which was the portrait below.

 

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