The Apples of my Eye

I've been obsessed with apples lately. Not only has JG been buying them by the bag, but I see them everywhere, not just in a big bowl in the house.

We have had an excessively dry August, for eastern Ontario - less than an inch of rain in August and not much more in September. The leaves have been drying on the trees and are falling early, some turning red and gold but more fading to a depressed brown and raining off the branches. The apple tree under the kitchen window, however, seems to have got enough moisture and since the spring rains encouraged it to blossom lavishly, it now has a fine crop of apples. They are not worth picking, being both wormy and riddled with various moulds and scabs, but the deer and the turkeys love them. We've had lots of wild life under the tree as the fruit ripens and falls.

I think the best laugh to date has been the confrontation between the YG's beautiful but dim dog and a deer - the dog was lying on the grass under the kitchen window and when the deer drifted in to eat fallen apples, Shammy just lay there and blinked at it. The deer munched for a bit, saw the dog, did a double-take and thumped off into the bush. Shammy yawned and went back to her contemplations.

The apples are beautiful. As the light changes through the day, various parts of the trees are spotlit by the sun and the apples glow, both the green ones and the red ones. The sugar maple beside the apple went gold with bits of red very early in September, and provided a lovely backdrop of gold for one green apple hanging on on an isolated branch. Yesterday most of the maple leaves fell softly down to form a gold carpet below the still green apple tree. And, as a series of thunder heads came through, with the sun breaking through occasionally, the light varied from dim to glowing, and the colours muted and strengthened and changed. A screaming, and screaming-blue, jay added contrast. I did bits of jobs that allowed me to trek past the window a lot and just enjoyed it.

There's another photo group going, one with a weekly prompt. So far I have taken a lot of photos of that apple tree and my favourite green apple for various types of focus. Now that apple is blushing a bit pink and will likely hit the ground in only a few days. I hope for good light for one more photo before the turkeys get it.