Bad hair day

But a gorgeous day for walking in the meadow.  Temperatures are headed for 80 -- no fooling!  Last great day of summer in late fall.  Tomorrow will be below normal with a high of 43 -- yes, you are in Michigan!

The shades of autumn

Michigan is beautiful these days and very happy about the Tigers! 
The weather is inconstant from warm to cold, from sun to rain.  Even cloudy days can still be cheerful because of the wonderful colors of the trees.

Misty Morning

Misty mornings are the norm here in Southwest Michigan, especially this past week of absolutely delightful Indian Summer.  Temperatures in the 70's (most definitely above average) during the day and ranging from 39 to 50 at night have us all meandering about outside as much as possible.  

Find many more M's to marvel over at ABC Wednesday!

last gasp of autumn color

The burning bush is showing the effects of frost but hanging on to keep giving us autumn color.  The other deciduous tree with leaves left is the beautiful Sweet Gum whose star-shaped purple leaves, when they do fall, stand out among the browns of poplars and oaks. 

Hazy skies of Indian Summer

A temperature that hit 70F and hazy skies have been the norm this week of our Indian Summer, a time in autumn when the first hard frost has come but not the first snow.  The term was first used in Letters From an American Farmer, a 1778 work by the French-American soldier turned farmer J. H. St. John de Crèvecoeur (a.k.a. Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crèvecoeur):

"Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer." (from The Phrase Finder)

American historian Daniel Boorstin in The Americans: the Colonial Experience "speculates that the term originated from raids on European colonies by Indian war parties; these raids usually ended in autumn, hence the extension to summer-like weather in the fall as an Indian summer. Two of the three other known uses of the term in the 18th century are from accounts kept by two army officers leading retaliation expeditions against Indians for raids on settlers in Ohio and Indiana in 1790 and Pennsylvania, in 1794."  But there is also the suggestion that is named for the traditional period when early Native Americans harvested squash and corn. (see Wikipedia article on Indian Summer)

In Western Europe this type of weather was called St. Martin's Summer from the feast of that saint on November 11, while Russians and East Europeans called it Old Ladies Summer.  And Indian Summer is the name given to the Milwaukee ethnic festival held in September honoring Native Americans: Indian Summer Festival.

No matter what name you give it, we have been enjoying what the National Weather Service defines as,  "a period of considerably above normal temperatures, accompanied by dry and hazy conditions ushered in on a south or southwesterly breeze."  See the attempt by a weather historian to deal with the naming issue in the article, Just what is Indian Summer and did Indians really have anything to do with it?

If you are in the midst of Indian Summer, please enjoy it!  And check out more skies on Skywatch Friday.

more signs of fall

Yes, election day approaches and by tomorrow evening these signs of autumn will have disappeared.  But autumn will stick with us and so will the pundits proclaiming what the vote "really" means! 

Autumn path

In late afternoon on a beautiful autumn day, what a great place to be! 

Foggy day in Fabius

The moon was full last night and shone bright with Jupiter in the east, but this morning fog and clouds hid the sky.  And the day has seen temperatures in the 50's and rain off and on, signaling an end to the sunny warmth of the first part of October.  I think it will be some months before we once more celebrate the appearance of new leaves.  As you can see I am trying to be philosophical about the fact of winter just round the corner!

Nothing nuanced about these colors!

I am probably driving you, my visitors, away with the daily repeats of autumn scenes here in southwest Michigan, but they just seem to get better and better.  Unlike yesterday's nuanced colors in the corn field, here comes the rays of the setting sun to light up the trees on the edge of the meadow.  Wish you could have been here!  but hope this photo (straight out of the camera) gives some idea of the stunning colors of the oak trees along the edge of the meadow. 

Celebrating N on ABC Wednesday

Neat corn rows ready for the harvester and nuanced colors in the trees lining the autumn field make a nifty combination for celebrating N.   Join other notable celebrants of N at ABC Wednesday!

Clouds and Color

in this photo (straight out of the camera), enjoy the color  in the woods at the back of our meadow and the clouds above them.  It is just about seven as the sun is going down in our corner of southwest Michigan last Wednesday, ending another perfect autumn day.    Every day in this October of 2010 has seen warm temperatures and deepening color in the trees whose leaves have not already fallen.

Please visit Skywatch Friday for more fabulous skies from around the world.