Autumn - Because I Love It and a Castle Update

Yesterday was my day off and after the morning mists burned off, it was a perfect autumn day. I had errands to do, so was driving around my general neighborhood, admiring the turn of color that we are finally getting in our trees. Although the colors are at peak in the northern part of the state, we usually don't peak here in the Twin Cities until Columbus Day (October 11). But the skies were so blue, I stopped to take some phone photos to share with all of you.

While driving home from the gym yesterday morning, I noticed this
stand of scarlet across the road. I made a second trip out to
take a photo to share with you. I love the contrast of the red and
green here. 

Across the highway from me was this solitary tree in a muted red. I'd
like the photo better without the utility lines going through,
but the tree is gorgeous. 

Although I often am caught by the red and scarlet colors of our
sumac and maple trees, the varied golds we get at this time of
the year are also gorgeous. These aren't the crisp yellow golds of
the aspen trees from days of my youth, but they are the rich golds
of the stronger, lower carat golds found in ancient jewelry. 

When returning to my car from taking the previous photo, I noticed these lovely
brilliant scarlet leaves at my feet. I couldn't resist taking their photo too. 

DH has been trying to finish up this year's work on my castle walls. He did the far curve of the lower tier on Tuesday and his back was feeling it overnight. He brought a heating pad with him to work on Wednesday, but I'm not sure it did a lot of good. I popped out to the yard to take a couple of updated photos to share with all of you.

Here, looking from the patio to the south, you see the almost completed
first and second tiers. He has one more level of stone to put on the far end
of the first tier and then he'll try to figure out where he wants to go
with the patio next year. That will determine if he will put capstones on
the steps now or wait until spring. 

The steps have a lot of empty bags strewn over them. (For that matter,
the construction itself has a lot of empty bags still to collect and put
into the trash.) Here you get the full view that someone standing on the
patio, looking toward our upper backyard, would see. 

So, I'm off to the pool. I indulged in a salad and piece of pie yesterday, so have to swim off the one pound I gained. BAD ME! But it was very tasty. Here's hoping you have a wonderful Thursday and that any problems coming your way today are easy to resolve.