Some Autumn Colours, Posted on a “Dreich” day, as the Scots would say

Had a rather disappointing day this last weekend … we were slated to go to a local attraction, called “Holy Hill” … a very large basilica, administered by a group of Carmelite friars … it is in the middle of the kettle region of southern Wisconsin, on the peak of a conical kame (a glacial remnant of the Ice Age), in thickly wooded country. We were expecting Fall colours galore, and freedom to move about in order to take pictures.

Well, our hopes evaporated when we found ourselves practically shoulder to shoulder with large numbers of tourists, unable to move about with any degree of ease, and the leaf colours hardly in evidence, probably due to the unseasonably warm weather.

So, I am putting up a few shots of some trees in Autumn finery from right around home, taken the day before our weekend jaunt. Not many, but it’s something, at least … especially on this “dreich” day … cold, rainy, windy, and raw … that is to say, “dreich” as the Scots would say. Living where they do, in the North of the British Isles, and in the midst of a cold sea. So, here they are:

This tree amused me, turning colour in patches.

And that’s about it, folks … sorry there aren’t more, but I was anticipating the trip and the pictures resulting from that.

Cheers, all!

 

A Belated Answer …

Some time ago, last Spring, to be precise, I published a post of the blossoms on the flowering crabtrees outside my windows in the courtyard. In response to the questions from some of you  as to what would be the result of these blossoms, i.e., what fruit would develop from them?

This post is an attempt to answer that question; the only added ingredients being time,  sunlight, and rainwater. These pics are of the resulting fruit, i.e., crabapples. They are the “parents”, as I understand it (don’t put too much credence in the extent of my botanical knowledge, here), of all the marvelous varieties of apples that we find in our markets today. These, however, are basically inedible, being very small (none of these are bigger than ¾ of an inch, and most much smaller than that) and extremely tart and astringent … real mouth-puckerers … requiring large amounts of sugar to even make a decent jelly.

So, here they are … I hope this has been sufficient explanation:

And there they are, folks … not too many, but frankly, that many shots with the camera pointing up at a branch against a featureless blue sky ain’t all that exciting … and the mild stroke I suffered in Hospital last year kinda makes me a little dizzy, like … looking up like that … so I didn’t shoot all that many. Anyhow, these will do, I hope.

Cheers, all … and enjoy!