Walking in my neighbor's fields and stumbled upon some beautiful seeds and animal signs. Usually I'd be skiing this time of year, and it's strange to see the bare ground.

The day before was 58 degrees with heavy rain all day, and down to zero by morning. Add in a foot of snow overnight and the Oswegatchie river was as high as it gets in the spring. The water was running at least 6-7 feet above normal, and had already dropped about 18" by the time we were there in the afternoon. There was a pretty big ice jam several hundred yard downstream of the trestle. The water and ice were backed up about 200 yards into the woods from the banks of the river. It was only 2 degrees, but made for a fun and quick snowshoes trek.

This was the third week of this year's Fall Trails Series, and the group spent a beautiful afternoon exploring the St. Lawrence University Kip Trail. We also talked about the Community Ash Tree Survey - a local effort in response to the arrival of emerald ash borer - and mapped some of the many ash trees on the trail. As a bonus, we spied a porcupine in a large red oak along the way!

Last night was the first hard frost at my house in Canton and at camp in Pierrepont.  Layer of ice on the windshield and beautiful ice crystals outlining so many things.  Lovely.

I love the Bayside cemetery - so much history, so photogenic. It is nice to see it from a distance, across the water, from the tip of sugar island.

It was one of the last days the road up Whiteface was open. It was hard frosty white on top and a carpet of autumn leaves down below.

Exquisite sunset from Coney Mountain! What a wonderful evening. Happy solstice everyone.