October Photo Challenge: Great Outdoors

PJ’s prompt this month was The Great Outdoors. Straightforward for those who love to be outside during the Autumn months. October is a transition month here in mid-Missouri. The season doesn’t know exactly what it wants to be….it could be summer and 85F but the next day it’s winter, 40F and cloudy/windy/rainy. We’ve already had a dusting of snow on the 26th.

There’s a joke about Missouri that goes like something like this:
Winter is at 6am
Spring arrives around 10am
Summer begins at 3pm
Autumn will happen at 6pm
Dress accordingly

It’s not uncommon for one to experience all the seasons in one 24-hour period in my home state. It’s possible to have the heat on in the morning and the AC on in the afternoon. But back to the challenge…..October might be my favorite month simply because of the stellar color that can be found here in the great outdoors. From the manicured parks and yards to the untamed areas, there’s little treasures to find everywhere.

The Great Outdoors 1
Is this a beloved ladybug or one of those nasty Asian lady beetles? The former is a beneficial bug that is always welcome. The other invades my house when it gets cold and stinks when it dies! FYI, this is an Asian lady beetle. The tell-tale marking is two white dots between the head and the wings.

There are two times of year: autumn and waiting for autumn. ~Unknown

The Great Outdoors 2
The okra in the garden gets very confused in October. It prefers hot and dry weather and the plants are seven feet tall in October, and still producing pods of okra. We usually have to just rip them out of the ground because I’m sick and tired of freezing okra by mid-month. But the flowers are always gorgeous!

The sun tires of summer and sighs itself into autumn. ~Terri Guillemets

The Great Outdoors 3
One of the local parks with a lake always puts on a spectacular show of color during October. It’s a favorite place to spend an afternoon on warm, Autumn days before the first hard freeze hits around Halloween.

Fall colors are funny. They’re so bright and intense and beautiful. It’s like nature is trying to fill you up with color, to saturate you so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary. ~Siobhan Vivian, Same Difference

The Great Outdoors 4
Autumn is prime time for the ornamental grasses to begin their show. They are in full bloom now but this is what they look like when they are just getting started.

Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night; and thus he would never know the rhythms that are at the heart of life. ~Hal Borland

The Great Outdoors 5
The bird bath always catches colorful leaves and when they float, the effect is lovely.

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~Stanley Horowitz

The Great Outdoors Bonus shot
I used most of my Autumn photos in previous posts this month. When the grand girls and I go to the great outdoors for our Fall Photos, they always gravitate to the creeks and streams. It’s like the water becomes a magnet, drawing them into the swirls of leaves and hopscotch of stones. In the past, we may or may not have taken off our shoes to cross the creeks in the cold water so not to get them wet. 😉 This year, the water was a bit too cold and we chanced wet boots.

The human soul is slow to discover the real excellence of things given to us by a bountiful Creator, and not until the shadows of death begin to gather around the object that we love, do we see its worth and beauty. Autumn is the dim shadow that clusters about the sweet, precious things that God has created in the realm of nature. While it robs them of life, it tears away the veil and reveals the golden gem of beauty and sweetness. Beauty lurks in all the dim old aisles of nature, and we discover it at last. ~Northern Advocate

There’s my photos for The Great Outdoors. Please pay a visit to PJ’s to see other stunning outdoor photos from people around the world.