It's really fall...

Today was a beautiful fall day with lots of sunshine and a vivid blue sky. It was just a tad chilly, with lots of wind. It was my kind of day!

The pine trees to the left are along the front edge of our yard, and the big tree at the right is a huge oak sitting at the corner of the yard by our driveway.

We don’t seem to get the right weather conditions to have a lot of leaf coloration in the fall. Most of the time the leaves just turn brown and fall off the tree, but we do have a few with some colored leaves.
Here's a close-up of some of the leaves near the top of the oak. It was tough to get a sharp picture since the wind kept blowing the leaves around!

There were all kinds of bugs out busily gathering nectar from any flowers they could find.

This goldenrod seemed to be a particular favorite for all kinds of bugs and bees!

Somewhere along the line this summer, some butterfly bush seed must have floated over to the pond banks, since I see we now have a little bush growing there. It's even blooming!

The pond water is beautifully clear around the edges. A lot of leaves have fallen into the water, which the wind has blown to the edges.

If we're really lucky, we'll have a lot more nice weather like today. I'm not going to count on it though. A hard frost can't be too far away, and winter coming fast behind that.

But for today, it was fall and it was beautiful.