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It was overcast, 55° and calm at 2:00 PM on October 24, 2012. Peepers continued to peep this week. Katydids I didn't hear until night fall. Bull frogs were still active in the Fern Glen pond. The colors of Japanese barberry and burning bush dominated the landscape. Fans of old barns should like the Old Pump House with Japanese barberry, a bush honeysuckle and burning bush - both of Asian origin - in front of it. The calls of a couple crows drew my attention overhead; a loose cloud of about 75 passed westward. In the back Old Hayfiled was barberry in a more usual red. But scattered through the woods, were all shades between orange and red. The view from the bluff above the Wappinger Creek was worth stopping for. Down in the flood plain was the best witch hazel blooms I'd seen this year. Close and relax your eyes; when you open them try to focus on the main branch for a 3D view . Burning bush was striking along the creek.A favorite spot of the Ecology Camp kids provided access to the Creek and a bench for the weary. I found myself looking back up through the same barberry that I'd looked down at earlier from the edge of the back Old Hayfield. The path up to the Carriage House was thick with burning bush of a paler pink. But it was the Cary Pines Trail that I followed, where a pair of oak seedlings caught my eye. One had intricate patterns highlighting its veins . The other's leaves were drab until the bright red petioles . More bright red was poking out of the pine needles on the forest floor: partridge berry . In the Fern Glen, hobblebush leaves were subtile in their beauty. The view of the pond was interesting from across the limestone cobble. Great Solomon's seal provided an exotic texture.Finally, a maple-leaved viburnum with berries ! A surprise was all the bullfrogs out around the pond. Except for the family of red-breasted nuthatch, the path was quiet all the way through the old Gravel Pit until opening to the Little Bluestem Meadow ... under a bough of burning bush.
