Three Days For The Price of One

I had a lovely walk with Jody on Thursday.  It was a bit chilly and a little windy, but we survived.  I had to put my gloves on part way around.  I felt like such a wimp.   Gotta get used to the cooler weather sooner or later.   The brightly colored yellow, orange, and red trees of last week are mostly bare now, but there are very, very many trees that still are green.  They probably will lose their leaves before they ever change color.  

There was one lonely sailboat left on the lake....

But,  come Friday when I walked, that was gone too.

On Thursday, Jody and I noticed about 20 robins all hanging out together.  I've never seen robins in groups before.  Do they migrate in groups, even though they seem pretty solitary during the spring and summer?  On Friday I noticed them again.  There were about 15 or 20 on the south shore, hanging out on the shoreline and in the trees.  I saw two more large groups like this in other areas around the lake. 

I'm so glad I don't have to rake all this!

As much as I hate the thought of winter coming, as much as I complained about the end of summer back in August, as much as I love the beauty of the fresh new greens of spring, and the bright flowers of summer,  I really do love fall here in Minnesota. 

Bird food!

On Friday when I stopped at the Little Beach to take a "fall" shot of my favorite willows, these characters came swimming toward me.......

Then the brave one of the group came up onto the beach to check me out.

I'd noticed a duck or two at each of the beaches over the summer, walking amongst the sunbathers.  They're quite tame, and apparently used to handouts.  I only had my latte from Nokomis Beach Coffee, and I'm pretty sure that's not what she was looking for.

The other two weren't as curious, they kept their distance.

Today, I went down to Carver, Minnesota to see my knitting friend Sarah.  Her family lives in a very old former hotel in this historic river town.  She, and our friend Tamara, have started an "occasional" shop (only open occasionally), called Temperance Arts and Gifts,  and I brought a few things down  that I hope to sell there.  There are hand knit and crocheted items, jewelry, one of a kinds, some clothing, antiques and other pieces of interest.  There are other occasional shops and antique shops in town.  If you get down there, check it out.  http://www.facebook.com/TempranceArtsAndGifts?ref=stream was most interested in the Minnesota River, which is just over the levee that runs along the side of their home.

The red building is theirs.  The heavy equipment belongs to the town. Not an ideal parking place.  The little steam boat? Maybe a way to float out of town if the levee is ever breached.  Sarah told us that Justin's Grandmother's diaries say that when the river flooded (before the levee), they would just move to the second floor and tie a boat outside a window to use when they needed  to go anywhere.

There's a nice walking trail along the top of the levee.

This is the river side of the levee, looking up.  Pretty woods - Sarah & Justin's land.  I would have spent more time down here, but it's a rainy day.

This is looking up river.  All that land  in the foreground is usually riverbed.  See the high land across the river on the left?  That's about how high I was on this side of the river, which is the normal shoreline.

Looking down river.  There are hundreds of trees that have piled up here from previous floods.  A driftwood graveyard.  I'm standing on what would be a normal shoreline, you can see how it drops off here.  It's a very beautiful area, and I hope to get down here for more photo ops.  Maybe that will be something to do next year?  River towns on the Minnesota?  My folks lived in Henderson, MN,  up river from here, the first few years they were married.  They ran a restaurant there called the Red Feather, and Mom also had a beauty shop in the back of Bender's Drug Store.  I remember tales they told of the river rising up almost to the door of their place.  Henderson has a levee now too, and I think a flood gate.  I've never been farther up river than New Ulm, my dad's hometown.  I just might have to go exploring next summer.

I noticed right away how young the trees were down here.  You can appreciate the damage that spring  flooding does. The bigger trees are all down.  They don't get to grow for 50, 60, 70 years or more here.  They barely get established and then, BAM!  Major flooding.  The power of Mother Nature!

I have more pictures from Friday, part of my "what I wanted to write about over the summer but never got around to" series.  Maybe tomorrow.