Model

Sometimes all you need is a good model. (Click for the big pic!)

I meant the girl, not the alpaca.

Chilly mid-morning

I meant to get out in the frost at dawn, but I only made it outside by mid-morning. The alpacas were outside munching on hay. Their wool is already so thick they were probably too warm.

The babies still have short hair and need an extra coat.

I walked around the pond in search of color and I found this odd weed trying to spread its seeds.

The pond is usually crowded with frogs, turtles, insects, and the occasional rodent but I only found this mallard. As I circled the pond he always move to the opposite side trying to keep the island between us.

This stuff has been growing on my apple tree for a few years, but it doesn't seem to bother the tree so I leave it alone.

I did find some color in a tree. It's leaves are turning red one branch at a time.

These last two pictures are of a "smoke tree" that blooms with a purple web in the spring. I'll mark my calendar to take pictures then. I'm fascinated by the water on the leaves-- it is the frost just melted.

A walk with Dean

I took a walk with Dean (actually he took me) to the Buckingham Fountains and its surrounds.
We were observed by this chubby guy.

The trees were losing their leaves and color but these were gaily wrapped against starving rodents.

I'll have to check these trees again after the snow falls.

I'll check her too, in the snow.

Then we took in some fountain pools and came across Dean's Leaf. I call it Dean's Leaf because he snatched it up and preserved it in a book-- but not before I took a picture. It looks like Dean rescued it from some Loch Ness Monster leaf.

We watched the fountains for a bit, and then watched them slower.

 

Just before the light was gone I got in this pictures of leaves and berries stirred by the fountains.