From our own WereBear:
After a long strange journey that DID NOT include Moscow or Minsk (house of Seinfeld fans), I wound up moving from the NY Metro area to the Adirondack Mountains of New York. I love it, and you gotta. But the four distinct seasons are part of the appeal, as is the six million acres of mostly wilderness to choose from.
Partner and I deal with fluctuating energies from chronic illnesses, but I know all the easy trails. This is a favorite. Not exactly local, but a great place to start a day of errands in what passes for our urban hub.
This paved entrance leads to an old apple orchard with rough meadow trails. This transitional space lets people with mobility support access the forest and enjoy the views, without potential damage to either.
Look in the center of this one to see that flare of red that appears in late August and creates a cry of NO-NOT-YET from any ‘Dacker. Usually gets coy until the end of September, when things start to explode.
I love the play of light in sudden meadows.
At top: Of course, there’s always glacial errata. Sometimes the size of a bungalow.
A view of misty mountains and lots of wildflowers. One of my favorite hikes for such purposes because of all the sunshine.
I have an app to identify these things now. This is Fox-and-cubs, a type of aster. I love the pale blue variety which is more abundant, and taller.
I once relied on gardening in my suburban Long Island neighborhood. But here, I can let nature do more of it, for me.
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I need more pictures, people!
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
SiubhanDuinne
WereBear, you live in a beautiful area. But I should probably just stop opening Balloon Juice before I’ve had my first coffee: I searched for ten minutes to find that flare of red that appears in late August only to discover, finally, that I’d been eye-scouring the wrong picture. Sigh. Anyhow, I love these photos, and I find myself wishing you’d do a “four seasons” series of a few select locations.
Van Buren
Most years I leave my Long Island garden to go camping/hiking on this 3 day weekend, but too busy with stuff this year. Maybe the Veteran’s day 3 day weekend, if the weather is half decent.
Nice pics.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Elizabelle
Good morning, jackals.
Werebear: love the pics. You inspire us to hiking (lightly), or at least nature watching.
MomSense
Lovely pictures this morning! Thank you, WB.
Torrey
What Elizabelle said. Wonderful pictures. It’s tempting to contemplate a light hike somewhere that looks like pictures 2 or 5.
O. Felix Culpa
The lush green in the photos is refreshing to this dweller of the arid Southwest, although we just had an almost unheard of full week of clouds and rain. Thankfully too late for mosquito production, but still good for my cold weather “crops” (radishes, carrots, various leafy greens).
Curiously, my bok choy came up nicely from seed, but then stopped growing. The little leaves look healthy enough, but the plants are not getting discernibly bigger. I gave them a side dressing of organic fertilizer and followed up with a light fish fertilizer. They’re a tiny bit bigger now, but still seem to be suffering from arrested development. Any thoughts on what’s going on/how to fix?
OzarkHillbilly
Thanx WereBear. We have some similar trails near here. One has many benches for the older fucks with weary bones in need of rest. My wife loves that one.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: You are not alone. I tried for maybe 30 seconds to find the flare of red and then shrugged and moved on. And there it was when I was no longer looking for it, the flare of red, in photo #2!
delphinium
@SiubhanDuinne: Ha-I did the same thing!
Lovely pictures WereBear-those trails look so tranquil-thanks for sharing!
JoeC
Thanks werebear. We were just up in Long Lake last week !
Immanentize
Ah, the beauty of Central New York. Thanks for the picture hike, WB!
Denali
@WereBear,
The Adirondacks are incredibly beautiful in the fall. That is all.
Betsy
I love glacial errata. My grandfather, geology professor and co-author of elementary school science textbooks , was fond of waylaying random strangers (trying to picnic in parks or hike on trails) and asking them, “How do you think that boulder got there?” and then using a series of Socratic questions on them to as they gave various wrong answers which then began to successively approximate the truth.
He just loved to train people to think like scientists, and would practice his craft on anyone, but especially his grandkids.
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: I did the same thing. And I will happily blame lack of caffeinated content for it.
That said, photos are lovely. I love upstate NY, but man…not sure I could go back to winters east of the Mississippi. I’ve become a real weenie for “sunshine and dry cold” having lived in CO for so long!
TaMara
What a lovely, lovely walk! And photos.
eclare
That looks absolutely beautiful, all the different shades of green.
StringOnAStick
@O. Felix Culpa: I had the same problem with radishes all summer; the first ones grew and after that, every planting did nothing other than sprout and then stay that way. The cucumbers were absolutely worthless this year, maybe 5 cukes total out of 3 plants and two were bitter. I have a new garden with newly added soil, so a soil test is in my future. Tomatoes and green beans did well, and the zuchini looks like a shrub!
StringOnAStick
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StringOnAStick
I just submitted a post for garden photos since your low on submissions.
Betsy
@O. Felix Culpa: I don’t know, but I’d reach out to your county ag extension agent. They always seem to have answers and are familiar with the most mysterious home gardening ailments. They have seen it all, and especially know the problems that crop up locally. (Chances are you’re not alone)
Nancy
I have photos to send, don’t know how to send them. Anne Laurie, is your email address Anne.Laurie or [email protected] balloon-juice.com?
And WereBear, the photos make me want to be there. Very refreshing and inviting, with all the green.