A Stunning Day Out

It’s late autumn. The countryside is losing a million leaves every few seconds. Slight exaggeration, I know, but that’s what it seems like. Every time I glance outside it’s raining leaves floating by in various shades of yellow and gold and brown, burnished with time, some deep oxblood and others almost magenta tones. It’s surreal. But I happen to love the contrasting colors and the quality of the light when it hits the trees at just the right angle.
We went out in two different cars today on our trek into the city because John needed to drop off his ‘baby’ GTI for a checkup and he didn’t have the tools needed to do this work himself. So early on we got in separate cars for an hour and a half journey into the urban craziness where one of the only authorized repair shops is located that he wanted to go to, and they didn’t have a loaner vehicle. So dutiful wife followed him obediently. Quietly, since he didn’t hear my ongoing dialogue or singing to stay alert and awake. Usually, he drives our cars so I had to smarten up my skill level after such little practice lately.
Now that this task is half finished, I have a new appreciation for his stellar chauffeuring talents.
So, in the meantime, here’s a few decent shots of some of the gorgeous scenery along the way. Though I missed many stunning views I couldn’t stop, had to stay close to John since I didn’t know where the auto repair premises were exactly., These few seem to show how special this particular day was. And when we finally pulled into our driveway in the late afternoon, I saw that the pukekos, those wild black and blue swamp birds that have taken a liking to our front pond area, well they’ve taken over the whole paddock. There are now 12 of them living here with our resident paradise duck couple and their one chick. Maybe I should put a sign at the gate, Welcome to Bird Land. Watch where you step.