Gray November

The sunny-and-seventy weather we had last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday finally gave way to what I think of as normal November weather here: gray November, leaves mostly down except for the stubborn oaks and beech trees, and a lowering gray sky.

And of course, this stuff. Snow!

This is the lichen called "British soldiers," Cladonia cristatella, breaking down the top of an old picnic table.

The very last red bramble leaves.

The reason autumn olive is so invasive. They produced their berries like crazy this year, all around my local area. I can spot them at quite a distance, they are just so loaded with reddish berries. Fruit-eating birds help spread them.

I tried making jelly out of them, because they are supposed to contain as much lycopene as tomatoes, but I couldn't stomach it - it tasted like tomatoes, and I'm not that fond of savory jellies. I hope the boiled seeds don't sprout, because I dumped them in my compost bin!

We don't always have white, store-bought eggs and brown eggs from our friends' chickens in the house at the same time.

Today I realized that we did, so I thought I'd take some nice contrast-y photos.

I wasn't sure the camera would catch the difference in the yellow of the yolks, but on my monitor it is showing up nicely.

And look! A knitting-related picture!

I ordered BV36, KUNST STRICKEN, Grosse und Kleine Decken, and BV40 KUNSTSTRICKEN-SCHONE HISTORISCHE MUSTER, Buchverlag fur die Frau from Lacis via mail a couple of weeks ago, and got them just before I left for work last night. I guess I have something perfect for the Long Lacy Summer (Southern hemisphere summer) to do during the long dark evenings.