There are very few signs remaining of fall here in Iowa.  The temperatures are cool and it is about time to put on a winter coat during the mornings at least.  I thought I would share a few of my photos this year even though it was not the prettiest fall I’ve ever seen, mainly because of the drought.  I love enjoying the wonderful colors even if they were gone too quickly this year.  The picture above is my tree in my yard and the photo below is across the street.

Even though I travel a long distance to work each day, I truly am lucky in the fall to be able to enjoy the rural drive checking out the trees. I even have a favorite hill where I always look for wildlife.  Many times the deer are out eating on the grassy hill as the sun shines right on it in the morning.  I have also seen wild turkeys on my hill.  Hawks and owls sit in the big old trees surrounding the grassy knoll so it’s always fun to check it out to see if  any animal is out as I drive by.   There are many rolling hills and ridges on my way to work and in the fall they become ablaze with color. Many times I’m overwhelmed at the beauty as the early morning sun highlights and brings to life the golds and russets.

Most of the time I just do not have the time to pull over and take pictures, but I did stop once early on in the season and took the above and below pictures of my view as I drove into work one day.  At the time the colors were just starting so I was excited to see the changes.

But perhaps the pictures I wanted to share the most happened more recently as I was out doing my jogging/walking intervals at home.  As my black Lab and I were almost home, the sky turned the most beautiful color of purples and blues tipped in pink that I had to stop and try to capture it.  Luckily we were almost done so the Lab was tired and waited patiently for me to take a few pictures.  I just love the color pink!  Although I could not capture the extent of these beautiful colors, at least I did get the exact coloring that I saw at the time.  It makes me want to go and paint a room using this color scheme!  Hubby would object I am sure.

I was truly thankful that I talked myself into exercising and got outside to see this.  With the remaining fall colors, it provided a colorful picture.

It was almost as if nature was sending Fall away in the most beautiful way it could.