Gold

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

— Robert Frost

 

Ginkgo

"Ginkgos adapt well to the urban environment, tolerating pollution and confined soil spaces. 

They rarely have disease problems, even in urban conditions, and are attacked by few insects." -- Wikipedia

Ox Whisperer

Mostly Sunny

 

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

Election Day

Footbridge

 

I stopped to talk with the contractor responsible for replacing this footbridge. Simple, right? 

Uhm, no. Few things in life are truly as simple as they seem. Part of what made this job more difficult was because it had to be built in an area certified as wetlands. But this area also serves as part of the plan to mitigate the effects of storm water runoff from a nearby housing development. AND, on top of all that, the drainage pipes running underneath the bridge had been crushed. So, of course, they had to be dug up and replaced. 

Fortunately, the contractor had experience in all these areas and was able--amazingly enough!--to get the job done in just a matter of days. He also thought it might have been a nice touch to install solar-powered lights. But, alas, no one wanted to foot the bill for those. So it is what it is, and a very nice change from the rotting footbridge it replaced.

Sky Blue

 

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

Autumn Stroll

 

 

 

It's beginning to look and feel much more like fall.

Pallettes

 

Each season brings its own pallette to Greensprings Interpretive Trail.

Sunny Skies

  

 Mostly sunny skies and cool temperatures have dominated our weather this week. Heavy rains last week, though, helped raise the water level at Greensprings (shown above).

 

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

Downed Trees

 

 

 

 

Cirrus

 

 

 

York River State Park 

 

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

 

Slippery When Wet

 

The Taskinas Creek Trail, following as it does the edge of a vast tidal marsh, can become very slippery. I suppose that's why park officials have wrapped the boardwalks in this chicken wire (above).

I arrived as the tide was still out.

Taskinas Creek Trail

 

Fall Garden

 

 

Beaver Trail

 

Beaver Trail, York River State Park

Smallanthus uvedalia (aka Bear's Foot)

Beaver Trail

Sinking Sun

 

James River

 

Shot these photos this past Thursday evening before the effects of Tropical Storm Ophelia began to be felt.

Erosion Controls

A little farther upriver from where I was before, . . .

 some major erosion controls have been put in place.

 

Mattaponi Trail

 

The Mattaponi leads to yet another stretch of the York River shoreline where fossils often can be found.