I got my November sock yarn last week. It's The Artist's Garden at Giverny. Mine has more green in it than my mom's, and brighter purples. I couldn't decide what to do with it, when my mom and I were looking through a book she got on the basics of making socks. I found a pattern I liked called "twisted rib," which is a sort of mock-cable. It's a simple repeat, and I decided to make myself a pair of socks with the November yarn. Since I've lost the memory card for my camera, I'm loathe to take pictures because I have to hunt my sister's bed to find the cable that goes to my camera. But that's okay. The sock is turning out well; the colors are making vertical zig-zags and I like them I just finished turning the heel just a few minutes ago. I'm so proud of my pattern-less socks.

This past Sunday we (mom, dad, me) took a few seconds to convince ourselves to drop our chores and go enjoy a drive in the woods. I took several pictures, and I actually bothered to find the cable for them when I got back. So here we go, picture time!

The road we normally take is called Quaker Bridge Road, which passes through a decent length of the woods. This was taken at the beginning of it, just as you pass the ranger station. Behind the green mound in the distance is the ruin of a barn that used to belong to the Atsion mansion. Further down the road is the old Atsion school house, which is in relatively good condition considering its age (135 years). Ahaha...I just got a book about the ghost towns of the pine barrens on our stop at Batsto, so I'm learning a lot about some of the places we see on our trips. I love it.

This tree is, I think, a scrub pine. I thought that it was just such a cool shape, I had to get a picture. Many of the pines in the area grow like this, and it makes for some wonderful, natural eye candy. I know it's hard to see in this little picture, but if you enlarge it (click it) it's easier. Pines don't really change color in the fall. They're green, and then they're brown. It's the same with oaks and cedars, the two other main indigenous trees to the pine barrens. If it weren't for ground cover like wild blueberry plants, there wouldn't be a whole lot of color there in the fall. But that's okay, I like it anyway. I saw a shirt at the Batsto visitor center that said "Visiting the woods is like going back home." It reminded me of my family-my mom in specific. We always talk about how driving through the woods is like recharging our batteries, and how we love it so much. I think I might get that shirt next time we go, if it's there. Though, whether I'd get it for myself or my mom is kind of iffy...

This was taken at the visitor center. It's a maple tree planted in the parking lot. My mom has a picture of it on her blog from a different angle. If you can't tell, I took this from right underneath, up against the trunk. This tree was beautiful. Unlike the others, it had most of its leaves still, and the colors were amazing. The bottom was a bright, sunny yellow and the top was a deep russet.

Fall has always been my favorite season because mother nature is dressing up everything in her best. I'm always kind of jealous that I can't change colors like trees can, though I don't think I'd like the shedding my leaves part...what would I lose? My hair? My arms and legs? Hmm...