Midwinter browns

More Blackie Spit photos. We left the river bank and walked back to the car over the fields and old farm country. It's very quiet at this time of year; all those rackety summer critters are sleeping under bark or duff, the shouting blackbirds have gone south; among the human Spit visitors, even the children walk along sedately, encased in puffy down jackets. And the weeds and trees are quiet in their way, toning down their riotous summer colours to cool browns.

Two berries. I don't know what they are. There were no others for comparison.

Dried weeds against an old fence

We sat on a bench by the path to rest Laurie's back. I entertained myself taking partial photos of the tree right in front of us, to build a composite once I got home. An alder, still carrying a few old leaves and its mature cones.

Unusually-shaped branches and buds. I don't know what this is. There were three in a row, as if planted.

Zooming in on those stubby finger-like branches. And two dead leaves.

A rotting log, with orange fungus. I didn't even see the spider until I got home. Can you find her and her web?

Just a dead branch. I was intrigued by the pattern of the thick bark. The whole branch is about 6 inches across at the widest point.

I moved to the far side of this branch, to get a photo with the sun on it, although the bark was rather bashed and broken.

Laurie sees a face here; a fish, he says. I see a skinny moose who's lost his rack. He's very sad about it.

Grasses protected from the winds by a tall fence.

Teasels against the sky.

And they're promising us snow for the morning! A few hours of whiteness, until the rain starts again. Back to grey.