Some people could use a good knock-knock-knock on the forehead to get them to stop for a few minutes, take a good look around, and see what happens when nothing happens. They get so wrapped up in themselves and the things they consider important that they forget where they are and why they are there, missing the good stuff — those small, quiet moments of near-perfection and beauty that pass quickly, often un-noticed.
I nearly knocked myself silly, this past week, before finally picking up a camera and stepping out to enjoy my favorite time of year. Now, to tie myself to a chair and force myself to post some of the pictures I took …
The maples were positively screaming out loud for the better part of the week.
On sunny autumn days, the colors can appear washed out or faded. A few cloudy days helped the colors really stand out, but then the clouds lowered and Fish in a Barrel Pond was fogged-in for close to two days straight, changing the whole scene.
Somewhere out there, the colors were reaching their peak but one would never know it from a distance.
Migrating mergansers paddled idly, waiting for the fog to lift, and a great blue heron sat out its flight delay by preening and napping on one of the boats.
Last week I spoke of sad sacks, complainers, and other types I cannot even pretend to understand. My mood was as gloomy as the weather. As the fog outside lifted (actually, it condensed with the dropping temperatures into rain) my spirits were buoyed by what I could see.
People who stand in the rain for hours with a wet dog, who come off the water with smiles on their faces and spend a few hours by the fire with friends before going to bed and doing it all over again in the morning?
Them, I get.
The View from Fish in a Barrel Pond 
Wow!!!! What a lucky shot!!! So many colors!!! Where in Vermont were you? Could you send me some of those pictures
Hello, Sophia. Too many colors to count! I am on a mythical mountain in southern Vermont, kind of like Brigadoon. I don’t know yet what I will do with these shots (print ’em and sell ’em?) but you may right click/copy for personal use on your computer but I’ll come find you if they show up elsewhere … 😉
Bleepin’ beautiful. And them, I get too. THANKS!!!
Bleepin’, indeed! If only there were more of them/us. You are welcome.
Me and the dog get it… he INSISTS on it – for the last 5 years… sits on the dock and stares at the camp until you go out in the boat. So does our friend in the bow of the boat… Wouldn’t, couldn’t, can’t miss it…
There have been evenings when I wonder if the dog really comes for the fishing. He sure takes a liking to some people. As for our friend in the bow, well, the less said the better?
Magnificent work Quill. I’m just speechless…no really!
Thanks, Howard. You don’t gotta say nothing. Just stop and look …
Fantastic.
I almost put the title in French, partly because it was your note that really got me going, but I am too lazy to learn another language and I couldn’t bring myself to trust an online translator. I am glad I have multi-lingual friends to save me the time and embarrassment.
I’d forgotten how breathtaking your photography is. What a joy to experience with my coffee this morning! While your autumns are spectacular, I still wouldn’t want your winters. 😛
Thank you, Ina. Winter is coming soon enough and I’ll make you glad to be where you are …
A great story, and due to the fact that you stopped to “do nothing” you accomplished “something” by a long shot. Great work! Love that heron shot! That’s a magazine cover waiting to happen. Oh, and I get those guys in the rain too….I’m one of them. Though sometimes I wish I could just be the dog and have no cares except for the next meal and people to be nice to me. Good stuff!
Thanks, Don. I’ve never had a heron stay so close for so long. I think he was reluctant to take off because then he’d have to land, and it was impossible to see more than 50 feet that morning.
I’ve noticed that dogs and people smell kind of the same after a few hours in the rain but the dogs sure have it good when they come in.
Absolutely beautiful photos! I was just thinking that I’m looking forward to your winter pictures (snow and ice are pretty when you aren’t outside!), and you sent me this. Thank you!
I’m not quite ready but winter is just around the corner. Now that the leaves are down, I’ve dug out the long-johns and snowshoes but it’s hunting season so I’ve got a couple of months wearing my safety orange hat and vest first.
(If you take your laptop over to the freezer and open the door while you look at my winter pics, you get more of the complete experience.)
For a leaf season that you were predicting to be a quick brown trip to bare limbs, the FIB pond sure looks spectacular. Especially if you didn’t pump the saturation in Photoshop a bit.
Beautiful! And three posts in such a short period. Looking forward to more in your just-starting season of quiet contemplation!
Things were still a bit parched when you were up and, yes, I was a bit of a pessimist but once the colors kicked in they were insane, no saturation adjustments necessary. I do under-expose a bit, to saturate, but I played with the white balance some, too.
I was in my recliner, eating ham, and I thought of you. I don’t know why.
Thanks for grinding my will to eat pig into the pavement.
No, really . . . thanks! Eighteen pounds down since the leaves were green. But they’ll get the recliner only when they pry my cold, dead butt out of it.
Really looking forward to your upcoming winter posts. As of yesterday evening, David the Luddite still hadn’t figured out how to access them.