November Colours

We've had day after day of gloomy grey skies and dreary rain.  For about 5 minutes today, the sun peeked through the dark, heavy skies, creating a cheerful glow.  I grabbed my camera as an excuse to be outside.  As always, I was greeted by my little flock.  They are truly a little flock now as we lost 4 over the summer to raccoons and hawks.  They are very, very careful now, except when they see me.  They race to see if I have a treat for them, be it a snack from the kitchen or worms from digging in the garden.  If I don't, they'll visit for a few minutes before wandering off back to their daily chores.


This is what is left of our Golden Rod.  No longer the bright, warm bits of gold in the garden and on the roadsides, the soft fuzziness of the spent flowers have their own beauty. 

One of the Rudbekia plants refuses to give in to the weather.  It's still struggling to flower.  I don't know what variety it is, but it flowers earlier than my Rudbekia Goldsturm and straggles on until the heavy frosts.

The sun was disappearing quickly and in the field behind the house, the colours shifted in the changing sunlight.








Other than the Willows which seem to be the first to leaf out and the last to drop their leaves, and the Oaks, which hold on to their leaves until the winter winds force them to the ground, this little shrub is the last plant holding on to it's leaves.  It is a splash of gold in what has been a very dull two weeks.