263/365: "To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring." ~ George Santayana

1 more picture in a notes above! :)

For the past few days, it FEELS like Fall has finally arrived, and I just love it! Crisp, cold mornings, bright sunshine, the fresh, clean smell of dried grass with the first hint of Fall dew....it's wonderful!!!

I know it's too early yet for mushrooms, but I simply can't keep myself from visiting the places where I first see them appear! First I went up to our marching stand of dry teasel which stare down at us in prickly formation from the hill above the house. This is where I will sometimes find the beautiful golden mushrooms who hide shyly behind the teasel stalks, not sure if they can trust me. But there were none to find, as I expected, so I did an about-face and went purposefully down to the dark woods of the lower forest, where dampness collects first and departs last. I searched the logs where the young mushrooms love to play, and under the plates of fallen bark where I sometimes find one in a game of hide-and-seek. But not today. Maybe tomorrow, for it has rained long and hard today, and perhaps I'll have a dream tonight where tiny mushroom fairies dance around me in a circle and as I awaken, I'll still hear the tinkling of their bell-like laughter. I will know then, that they have woken up and once again I will get to capture their pretty little faces for everyone to enjoy!

As I looked for mushrooms, I saw this trio of perfect Black Oak leaves and hoped they would make a pretty picture. I was delighted to find them positioned just right for an image showing all three against the dappling of a tree's branches and the sky above.

Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, known as George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952), was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States and identified himself as an American, although he always kept a valid Spanish passport. He wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters. At the age of forty-eight, Santayana left his position at Harvard and returned to Europe permanently, never to return to the United States. His last will was to be buried in the Spanish Pantheon of the Cimitero Monumentale del Verano in Rome. Wikipedia: George Santayana

Explored on September 21, 2013. Highest placement, page 3.