Warm, slow autumn

[redbird]

cattitude and I went for a walk in Inwood Hill Park earlier today, just to get out, see and smell and maybe listen. There were quite a few violets in bloom: the one under the willow is still there, and we saw several on the strip between the soccer field and the hills. Jewelweed is also still blooming, some pale yellow and a few bright red. Dandelions aren't a surprise, even much later than this. The odd little flowers one reference called "lady's thumb" are there in quantity, both pink and white. The clover is still in bloom, mostly white, but we saw one large pink flower.

We saw kinglets in the trees again, passing through on their way south; a bit late by the calendar, but seeming synchronized with the leaves. Mallards and geese, of course.

The dominant color of the trees is now yellow; it was still green a few days ago. There are nice bits of red, again, and the foliage is sparser. The willows are bare, and the berries are more visible on the hawthorne.

We haven't had a frost here yet, though I wore my travel cardigan under my fall jacket on Friday. (That combination will keep me down to freezing, or a bit above and windy, which Friday was.)

I pointed out Cattitude that one of the recently planted pines on the slope between Indian Road and the inlet is mature and healthy enough to have dropped a few pine cones, which I noticed a few days ago. (The other three near it haven't, and one of them looks a bit sickly.)