The Grand Outdoors

I was snipping more out-of-control shrubbery today, and I came across this:
At first I thought, "How odd that that bush is blooming in October." But when I looked more closely, I realized these are leaves. This bush has variegated leaves in some spots. This particular spot is very flower-like!

Julia and I went on a walk yesterday to find a friend's home a few blocks away, and see their flowers. Impatiens around the tree:
These shots really don't do justice to the beds around their front walk. And I think they must have been more showy a week or so ago. Lots of marigolds and lantana. The red are begonias.

This is perhaps the most majestic tree in our neighborhood. It's a sycamore. The lower limb on the right is really remarkable -- low enough to sit on, and rather like a settee. The sky was that delicious October blue yesterday. In October, the sky seems to be just coming to life again, after the long, hot death of the summer. That blue, juxtaposed with the rustling, dying leaves, gives me such a sense of conflict and pensiveness. I think the death and rebirth in nature each year should make us contemplative. No doctrine is screamed so loudly in the world around us, as resurrection.