An autumn day...

Having survived the October 15th extended tax return deadline at work, I decided not to go to work today (I needed time to recover!). After puttering around the house for a little while, I remembered that I needed to go buy pumpkins for a party we are going to on Saturday. I could have gone to the local supermarket but it was a nice day and I thought I'd enjoy a visit to a local orchard - Outhouse Orchards in North Salem, New York.

My art quilt group is doing a micro-photography project and I've been carrying my new digital camera everywhere, hoping for inspiration for that project. I took some photos as I wandered the orchard's property and am sharing some of them with you here. Having this new camera has been great fun and the micro-photography project has me taking pictures of the craziest things, like cracks in the pavement. I am astonished by the detail that this camera captures (Nikon Coolpix S630).

The picture of the daisies was taken from across two lanes of traffic! These crazy blue-gray pumpkins (well, I guess they are some kind of squash, technically - but, then again, so are pumpkins, right???) seem so forlorn when viewed next to their more colorful cousins. There were friendly roosters and chickens roaming around and a couple of ducks that were fun to watch as they waddled around.

So, on to the book of the week for 'Bookworm 52"... this weeks selection is "Layers, inspired collage for paper projects with meaning", by Shari Carroll (North Light Books). It is a lovely book with a lot of projects, many of which would make great gifts (the holidays will be here soon!). My project is the "memory book" which is basically a blank chipboard book with a collaged cover and decorated pages, ready for individual collages and journal entries. It will be fun to dig through all the papers in my stash in search of the "right" ones.

It was a lovely autumn day, the crisp air, enjoying a bit of nature and taking pictures of the bountiful pumpkins and apples at the orchard, bringing home an apple crumb pie for dessert and enjoying Mother Nature's fall production of color-changing leaves. I remain fascinated by nature and the cycle of life in my four-season corner of the world.