Solemn Sunday--Bye bye Autumn

I am saying solemn, because the trees are basically bare now, and the sun is out less and less.

Here are some shots of my leafy yard and bare-ass trees! LOL

all of these pictures were taken the last week in October, the "blown piles" are triple the size now, and the trees are completely bare.All shots are taken from my driveway, straight out from the side door (we use this as the main door) and then I walked up part way to the barn/garage...I didn't take any from behind the barn.

 Blown leaves from just the driveway area down by the house. (hey why is the "wood bag" outside?? TOM...)

 glancing upward toward the high level ground ..."the play area" You can see a wishing well I began painting before my wrist injury and the MRSA. I may re-start it this coming Summer.

 Looking up the driveway to the barn

 same shot, wider angle...see Tom's Hearse?  he is supposed to be rebuilding it.

 The tree above and behind the hearse...as you can tell they are MOSTLY Maples. we have some locust, cedar,  all kinds of evergreens and a Catalba, holly, juniper,  etc.

 looking higher up the hill now that is the corner of the garden fence covered in ivy, honeysuckle and a forsythia bush...a little anchor hanging off my secondary clothesline...garbage can and chairs left over from one of the kids "bon fires"

 panned slightly to the right, see my grand-dog Pico? that low concrete block box is our compost area, right outside the back gate to the garden. The main clothesline attached to what is left of a white mulberry tree (ancient)

 The maple closest to the garden

 to the left and up of the driveway, a small dirt hill left over from digging the crawlspace for our addition. the large juniper jungle behind that, and behind the juniper further to the left is where my kids used to have their "hidden secret club area" LOL.  In the fore ground, brand new fencing we have yet to put up. :(

 view of the "main yard ares--play area" from it's own level, That Maples tree is HUMONGOUS and has a HUGE canopy, which hangs over our upstairs deck and MB...when it is a really stormy time, I always worry about this tree, as we cut away of lot of the land (slope) supporting it for the addition, but that was in 1987. so now I just worry cause it is old and huge!

 "Pretty" was very happy to see me outside walking around, and romped and played in the leaves in what ever area I was in.

 and a close up

 compost, our spruce line (or part of it) they were only about 7-8' tall when we moved in in 1986. In the background is my neighbors' horse corral.

 The "bon fire crap wood" pile LOL

 here's  THE maple, see the house down hill from the tree, you can see pretty on my "clothesline table"

 my "Rhody" in front of Tom's hearse, my other next door neighbor, who is not really living here at the moment. He is living downtown with his folks, they are elderly and the Dad has CA.

 The "BBQ and Bocci Ball area" and a piece of my neighbors' yard

and another pile of leaves.

these will slowly get raked onto a big tarp, and the tarp lifted and put in the back of the truck and the truck will be driven out to our back property, and the leaves will be dumped.  this is a huge job, and takes months to get all of them...and it actually is never ALL of them. Every year in the spring we still find leaves around, along with lots of little twiggy branches etc.

I LOVE AUTUMN and am always a little melancholy, when I know it has completely surrendered to winter!

Though, Winter brings it's own kind of beauty, does it not?  AAH, but Autumn will always be my favorite time of the year!