I last wrote about an impending rain/wind storm that was expected to down all the foliage and perhaps branches and trees as well. But where I live, though there was much rain, there was very little wind. So, the leaves stayed put and those of us who love to watch the colors of fall had a few bonus days.

In the image below, the red of the low growth is reflected in the water. The ripples of the water in the foreground give that “watercolor” effect – the look of a watercolor painting – which you can see in the next image.

Canada geese enjoy the sun’s warmth in an otherwise chilly setting.

Is the natural beauty of their world lost on them? Do they have the capacity of mind to see and appreciate it? Are they desensitized to it, as we might be if we lived in it always? Or, like a human heart, does a sublime setting like this bring peace to their sensibilities.

While the wind did not disturb the leaves, the rainfall caused the pond to rise several inches – a change I’d hoped for all summer long, as, for months, the pond has been more shallow than I’d ever seen it. Gladly now, what I’d come to call Turtle Rock, shown in an image that I shot within the last two weeks, is fully submerged.