Autumn greets the tundra

It was a rare unseasonably warm September day, finally the rain had stopped, it seemed to cloud over every evening just as we finished work for the day. Life was simpler when skipping class on a fine spring or autumn day resulted in a scolding from the school or ....not! No chance on cutting classes now though. The fine weather will end, bringing on the early nights and lazy sunrises, and the plants will be blanketed for another long wait under the snow.

Alan loves blueberries, all berries in fact. I don't. Picking berries makes great use of the fine weather. Today I bake a pie..or tarts...something with blueberries for him. The black berries (crowberries) are sweeter after the first snow, oddly we haven't had one yet. When we do, I will get back out there in the colder weather to harvest the frost sweetened black berries for the winter.

Crowberry

Thanks to the rainy month of August, the berries are bountiful, big and juicy. It amazed me that so many plants can share the thin soil and at the end of the short season, everyone has had a successful summer.

Blueberry among lichen.


Mountain Avens? I think, unfurled with seed.



Blueberries, red bear berry, and crowberry crowd the thin soil covering the rocks.



Mt. Avens


Dwarf Fireweed seedpod

This fine weather does nothing to improve the state of our apartment, an opportunist like me would rather be outside playing in the sunshine than inside fighting with the vacuum. Taking pictures is a good way to stay outside for long hours. As the sun moves across the sky, with the ever changing the light, there is always something beautiful to capture.





After all, there will be plenty of time to sort and organize in the coming months!