A November Walk

We've had some absolutely fantastic weather for November, so I'm not complaining.  But November is not one of my favorite months.  Typically our days are drab and dreary after the brightness of October-- and the song lyrics that often pop into my head are, "So you speak to me of sadness and the coming of the winter" from an old John Denver song.   

Our winters are long, and since I can't go into hibernation, I try my best to enjoy them.  So, last Sunday afternoon, while not the nicest of days, weather-wise-- I went for a walk anyway.   You can see things in November that you can't see when the leaves on the trees.

What did you see, you ask? Come along with me and see!

For starters, that nice weather I mentioned has my Johnny Jumps-Ups blooming in my flower bed! 

After walking by the flowerbed, I walk along the road to see what I can see in the swamp.  There's a multiflora rosebush that usually has some sparrows hanging out in it.  It's a pretty safe place for them, with all those thorns.

Song sparrow

Today there is also a black-capped chickadee pecking at the rose hips.

Also, along the road by our mailbox, where I had watched a pair of Baltimore orioles nesting, I'm surprised to see another nest close to it.  Hadn't noticed that before when the leaves were on the tree!

I'm wondering if it was the cedar waxwing that was stealing nesting material from the oriole's nest?  Or maybe a robin... kind of looks like a robin's nest but it's hard to tell from down on the ground.

Not much else in the swamp today, so we'll head up the hill. My route takes me along this beautiful stone wall.  Can't see as much of that in the summer, either.

Or the neighbors place on the other side of it.  Wonder if the original people who lived there had a hand in building the wall?

Another neighbor who lives at the top of the wall has this wonderful sweetgum tree.  Its leaves are already down, but they are still pretty...

even if today they have some snow on them!

Just past the sweetgum, in the old pasture, is an apple tree I'm quite fond of.  You see, the old tree fell over and instead of dying, it sprouted several new ones.

They produce a lot of apples, too!

Those apples hang on later than many do, and they will be good eating for wildlife this winter.  Here's another view point of the old trunk.

From the old pasture, we'll head into the woods.

The marsh marigolds that bloom in this rill in the spring are gone... the mosses and ferns are the stars now. 

I wonder where the acorn caps on this rock came from?  Must be an oak tree somewhere nearby.

As I carefully step over an old piece of barbed wire fence, something on the ground catches my eye.

Now, that's a cute mushroom!

And a moment later, I see another 'fun guy'... does this look like a turtle to you, too?

I do have fanciful thoughts on my walks sometimes... it's fun to imagine a gnome living in this hole.

With the snow on the leaves outside his home, I imagine he is curled up inside by his hearth, reading a book.  We can't see him, but in the next photo, we can see someone who would be hidden by leaves in October.

I know it's not a good photo by any means, but I never get photos of these birds - it's a ruffed grouse, right in the center on the log.

Something else I may have walked by earlier in the year without seeing is this bird's nest full of rose-hips.

 Probably a white-footed mouse made many, many trips... collecting his food for the winter and storing it there.  I'll try to remember to check on it later!  Probably won't ever see the mouse, as they are nocturnal, but maybe I can see if its food supply goes down.

Time to head back to the house.  Down thru the hayfield we go.  A yarrow plant is blooming like it's July!

This walk has been full of wonderful things... I really have to remember that November is a beautiful month, whether it's flowers or seed pods, fungus turtles or ruffed grouse.  There is always something to see in God's creation.

Wild clematis seed pods