In her best Hallowe'en outfit

I promised you a rubber dollar store spider. Here she is!

On maple leaves.

Happy Trick or Treating!

Under the autumn maples

And fall is upon us. Under the trees at Bear Creek Nature Park (on the Oyster River) it rained steadily. A warm, dry, orange rain; maple leaves weaving a cozy blanket for the earth beneath.

The woods were glorious, if the ravens were not:

One, or maybe two ravens. Easier to hear than to see.

Down below, we walked in semi-dusk; above on oddly twisted trunks, the leaves blazed in the sunlight.

In spots, the sun filtered through to the ground. Here, a few dead branches, woodpecker-drilled bark, moss, lichen, trailing blackberry, and the maple leaves.

Maple tree out in the open.

And underneath that maple leaf blanket, a miniature flower:

Unidentified. White, bell-like flowers with pale lilac veins.

Hung out to dry

While the sunshine lasted.

Maple and alder, still damp.

A more permanent drying rack.

Brilliant

Maple leaves, sparkly clean after a week of rain.

Red, red, red. I thought the black dot at the top was a bird, but zoomed in, it turned out to be a flying spider.

A different variety of maple; the leaves turn red each at its own pace.

Fallen leaves

I'm not sure of the variety of these maples, except that they're not Big Leaf Maples, which have large, deeply indented leaves.

At this time of year

... Even the parking lots are glorious.

Every shade of red.

Even the fire plug blends in.

Backyard bugging

October already! The leaves on my maple are a patchwork of yellow, green, and orange. The fallen ones, on the ground, are brown and yellow. A couple of squirrels are spending their days in the top branches, stuffing themselves with maple seeds; the pathway underneath is sprinkled with maimed maple "airplanes".

Down in my primroses, the slugs and snails are partying. And I found a half-dozen caterpillars, green and brown, fattening up on the leaves. I've got a few in a jar to watch them pupate, maybe even see what they turn into.

Fat brown caterpillar, sleeping

This one's much smaller.

Yellow and green, fat and still hungry.

Three fallen maple leaves.

Detail of rotting leaf

And the nasturtiums are still flowering bravely, even though they never see the sun any more.

Nasturtium and rhododendron leaf.

I found a couple of interesting spiders, and a pair of mating slugs. Photos will be forthcoming as soon as they're processed.

Fallen glory

Maple leaves on wet pavement

Just about the last; only a smattering left on the trees

I'm back. Now, where was I? That leggy star; story tomorrow.