Our pond dealer, when asked when to net the pond, said “the day before the leaves fall”.  Last Sunday (Oct 7) was close enough — they were just starting to drop then.   Our maples are about halfway done already, but the oaks haven’t started yet, except for acorns, which are dropping like popcorn in a microwave oven.    The tropical plants (canna and taro) are in for the winter, the hardies still need to be trimmed back, but that will wait until it gets a bit colder, as they are all still looking pretty healthy.  Today’s water temp is about 58F.
The net is supported by pvc electrical conduit, which flexes very nicely and keeps the net, and the leaves that it catches, out of the water.  Depending on the angle of the sun, the net ranges from nearly invisible to nearly opaque, but overall, it’s not a bad tradeoff.

Cleaning up after some yardwork, I came around the corner of the garage, and a 6 point buck is staring at me, about 20 feet away. I said “hi there!”, and he went back to chewing on some leaves, so I went into the house for the camera, and came back out. He hadn’t moved an inch, and when I peeked around the corner with the camera, he barely looked up at me.

We spent a delightful day on Martha’s Vineyard last week, and ended with an unplanned “sunset cruise” on the ferry back to Hyannis.

As nice as vacations are, it’s always nice to be home, although there’s a bit of work when 3 bicycles come along.

Our last full day on the Cape,  like much of the week, was blue skies, and  hardly anyone on the rail trail.

Luckily, the photographer didn’t get run over (or run off the trail) while taking this shot!  

While geocaching along the Neil Smith trail near Saylorville Lake near Ankeny, IA, I happened on a few butterflies landing on flowers along the trail.   After several tries, I managed to catch a decent shot of one of them

The waterlilly in the center of this photo has been amazing.  We purchased it right after filling the pond last August, and started adding fertilizer tablets to its pot when growth started in the spring.    For a while, each new leaf was an event, but now there are a large number of them.  It’s bloomed  continuously since June 21, generally with one or two blooms at a time, so three has been a special treat.

The smaller, darker colored leaves at the top are a newer plant, purchased this spring.   It’s bloomed once, while we were out of town last week    We’re hoping to see another before the season ends.     If this one takes off like the first, we’ll have to find another spot for it so that the two don’t crowd each other.

Along the left side, there are two marsh marigolds (big leaves) on either side of a corkscrew rush along the pond edge, and a mass of floating water hyacinths in the middle of the pond (left edge of the photo).

It started because we had some extra gravel to use when the pond was built last year, and a covered a corner of the lawn that would have been awkward to mow anyway.  Quickly realized it was a great spot, but it needed a table and chairs, and therefore, a smoother surface.   Some leftover flagstone from a friend’s project, a little bit of sweat, and voila!, a patio.  

It’s a great place to sit in the evening and watch the fish swim and in and out of the lights.

Our town fireworks were postponed due to rain, but we had a glorious evening on Saturday night to hang out on the field with friends waiting for dark, and as always, a great fireworks show to follow.

Olympus E550, f11, 4sec

Olympus C750, f4.5, 1sec