Fall Colors

One thing I mentioned about this blog was about living...the absolute life. I want to experience the things that I otherwise would probably not notice, and I want to hold onto memories that surround us most days, but our daily activities preoccupy us so we miss it. Fall is one of those beautiful times when the world is changing, the leaves are brilliant colors, the pine cones clutter the ground and the wind pricks at your skin warning of the cold winter. I love fall.

In Minnesota the best place to see this change is down by the Mississippi river, where you see an array of colors matched with a quickly flowing river. Even Cretin Avenue has gently hovering trees that are vibrant red, orange and yellow hues. Before this year, I never really saw much color change.

Since I lived in Alabama, I lived out on Taylor Road, which is mostly out in farm land. There are a few scattered trees with beautiful moss; however, most of what you see are cattle. The city has a few bright branches, but nothing compared to the Mississippi river. Following this, we had moved to Millbrook, which was more of a town like area; however, I remember seeing yellow and green. I am not sure if maybe the weather did not change as much last year or what, but I don't remember an array of brilliant colors surrounding my house.


This year, we live back in Montgomery, in a beautiful area with extremely tall trees of a variety, pine tress and sidewalks (sounds strange, but it is a first for us here). I figured, why not take my dog on a walk, collect some pine cones for dipping in silver glitter for the holidays and take some pictures of what most people would otherwise not notice. I found it to be such an amazing experience...I even met some neighbors on the way. It is best to make the most of any situation. I may not like living in Alabama, but maybe if I notice the things I may not see if I didn't live here, I may appreciate it more. Yesterday was a day of noticing the foliage of the South, that once I move from here, chances are that I won't notice it or embrace it again..

I loved this capture of a pine tree - slightly manipulated with photo tints

A unique plant that I found growing under a mailbox

The same plant I found under the mailbox

This one caught my eye because of the contrast between the yellow and green trees

The pines in Alabama are much different than Minnesota

This tree color was like a burnt orange, the leaves looked shaded!

Some trees have unique shaped trunks like this one

Bright red leaves and berries, I had never seen a tree like this before

Anyone else remember tree houses? Or in this case a tree deck?

I loved how the sun made the leaves look like they were on fire

Generic leaves, reminded me of Minnesota

I actually loved how the clouds looked in this picture as well as the silhouette of pine needles in the back.

This tree trunk was COVERED in sap - I took several pictures

Just in case the other pictures were not clear, here is the sap..

Many of you may think I am taking these pictures with some high powered camera...Hardly. Many of the pictures I do update with photoshop (but you can do this with several cheaper photo editing programs) I update the contrast and vibrance on many, some of the brightness needs lifted, and occasionally I may need a photo tint. These are not advanced tools - anyone would be able to learn how to do these..

These photos were taken with a cannon PowerShot SD1100 IS Digital Camera with 8 Megapixels....This camera I think we got for $175 at best buy about 3 years ago..

Hope you enjoyed!