Tag: fall

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Fall colors for International Josh Day

  • Waiting for the Brussels ferry
  • Climbing the trail
  • Beautiful tree near the Pere Marquette park visitor center
  • Beautiful tree near the Pere Marquette park visitor center
  • Climbing the trail
  • View from McAdams Peak
  • Walking around the pond at Pere Marquette
  • Walking around the pond at Pere Marquette
  • Bluffs near Elsah

Our kids were off school (presumably in celebration of International Josh Day), so we took the Golden Eagle and Brussels ferries to Pere Marquette, Grafton, and Elsah.

This was our first time driving through Calhoun County, and it was really lovely. We had heard of it many times via the Farmers Market, since we often buy Calhoun County peaches. The rolling hills and curvy roads were lovely. I would love to go back and just walk there.

The River Road and Pere Marquette State Park had absolutely fantastic fall foliage. We saw some bright yellows and reds as we hiked up to McAdams Peak.

The leaves in Elsah were not as vibrant as I have seen in some previous years. We were also disappointed to find the General Store wasn’t open. Elsah always seems to be shut down on Mondays and Tuesdays. Oh well.

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Scenes from the backyard in autumn

A weird morning. My tummy was rumbly, but I had promised to accompany Jadzia on her field trip to Little Creek. So she and Ludi and I walked together to school. When I got there, the teacher said chaperones would have to ride separately, not on the bus. Oh well. I walked back home to get my minivan.

After arriving at Little Creek I waited about 20 minutes for the kids to arrive. As a children’s ministry teacher for many years, I know that it can take a while to get them all rounded up. Just as the bus from Vogt Elementary pulled into the lot, I got a call from the school — Ludi had thrown up. So with quick apologies to Jadzia and her teacher, I drove back to Ferguson to take Ludi home.

The rest of the morning went well. Jadzia and her class learned about groups of vertebrate animals: mammals, amphibians, fish, reptiles and birds. They got to interact with real animals and do a lot of activities and games. It was a fun way to learn.

After the field trip was done, I headed home for lunch. The kids were in the backyard playing, Yoli told me. After spending some time upstairs, I was headed downstairs to do some work. As I looked out my bedroom window, there was Josie talking into the gutter extension pipe, making announcements to somebody. Across the yard, Joseph was standing at the old brick grill cooking a muddy concoction. I couldn’t resist.

I grabbed the camera and went to capture a few scenes from a lovely fall day in our backyard. Enjoy.

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Lawn care

Beautiful weather left me with no excuse to avoid raking leaves today.

The girls offered their “help” which lasted for a while. Mostly they wanted me to make piles that they could play in.

Ludi was the best helper, probably, grabbing small handfuls and putting them into the yard waste bag. But she’s not quite tall enough to reach in, so she would have to pull the bag down.

Jadzia, on the other hand, could grab a nice big clump of leaves, and she was plenty tall. But she wasn’t all that interested in working.

(Josie offered moral support, and mostly just enjoyed being outside)

I finished the front yard, but the side yards and back yard remain. I also have 4 ornamental grasses that I need to trim for the winter.

And, as usual, the tree in the front yard is still loaded with leaves. It’s going to be a loooong fall.

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Fall, leaf, FALL!

!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/images/2008-11/IMG_1112.JPG!

A few pictures from falltime in our backyard as winter approaches.

!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/images/2008-11/IMG_1119.JPG!

!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/images/2008-11/IMG_1120.JPG!

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Still hanging on up there

!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/images/2008-11/IMG_1014.jpg!

‘Twas a beautiful day … perhaps the last beautiful day of the year. I knew I had to take advantage of it, so I embarked on a mow-n’-rake. Took about two hours or so, but I got about 90% of the leaves. It felt good getting it accomplished.

!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/images/2008-11/IMG_1015.jpg!

But one look up into our trees afterward was almost enough to quash that feeling of joy. There are bags of leaves yet to fall.

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Warm fall day

!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/images/2008-10/IMG_0935.jpg!

Trying to enjoy the last hurrah of warm fall days. I took the girls to the park again, and we had fun on the swings and the playground. Jadzia even met a new girl. I had to remind her how to introduce herself, because she said “Look, what’s that girl doing?” and started yelling “Hey girl, what are you doing?” The girl’s name was “Aniya” (not sure of the spelling), but Jadzia needed to be reminded many times to call her by her name. She sure wasn’t shy, though. Jadzia immediately began telling her “This is my sister, Ludi” and launched into some fantasy play about making plastic things with wood chips (or something like that).

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