Beating Grandad to the Punch this year - Colours of FALL!

[LovelyLadyLux]

Great photos H! I'd LOVE to see more of the church........Geez I love old stone buildings!

[Kiya]

Lovely colourful pics Horus not much colour up this way at all

[Grandad]

As today was scheduled to be bright and sunny and in my desperation to get some more of LLL's points I drove the 75 miles to Sheffield Park with Mrs G, a cert for some autumn pictures.

Last time we went there it was mid October but mid November proved to be just a little late as many trees had completely shed their leaves and other were well into the process. Here is a representative half dozen from over 100 that I took. (So I have plenty more to bore you with if this doesn't put me in the lead)

The Acers are still showing colour and this maple is a good example.


In this one there is still some colour but with so many evergreens there is always colour in the gardens.


There are several lakes and this is a classic Sheffield Park Garden view.


This tree had shed its leaves but in the carpet there is a 'Fairy Circle' in the middle of which someone had placed a Haloween pumpkin....very appropriate.


The original house is not open to the public but makes an appropriate backdrop on one of the lakes. (Whoops! Just noticed that needed some straightening )


And finally this tree with its old and twisted trunk. It is still alive and very sculptural.


Apart from the autumn, another good time to visit the gardens is in April to June when the masses of rhododendrons and azaleas are in bloom.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Wow - GREAT photos Grandad - 6 points for photos, 3 points for the Hallowe'en pumpkin in the fairy circle (1 fall point + 1 seasonal applicability point + 1 'effort' point (all the driving)

Looks to be a lovely place Grandad. Beautiful grounds. Too bad the house isn't open for touring. The red in acer is lovely.

I'll be adding MY photos to the "fall collection" soon! Just giving fair warning!

Am hoping to get a photo of some of antlered bucks wandering about here. Saw a four prong yesterday. Soon as I get all my stuff unpacked and a semblance of organization I'll be outside with the camera.

[Horus]

Truly fabulous pictures Grandad and well worth the long drive, these must put you well into the lead and rightly so. We have awful weather at the moment so nothing from me for the foreseeable future.

[Ruby Slippers]

You all really thrill me with your photos! So much so that I'm not even going to bother with any of mine - not that I ever go out to take any - but I'll definitely be leaving the photography to DH after seeing these! Take a well deserved bow, all of you! They are all gorgeous and worthy of their own exhibition!

[Grandad]

Thanks for your nice comments folks

Now then RS I won't have you resigning from picture taking Didn't you say recently that you have just got a new camera? (Or was I dreaming?) Let us see some of your pictures and if necessary we will offer helpful comments. We are just a small group who enjoy taking pictures and much as we like favourable feedback we also appreciate critical comment which helps us to improve our pictures.

Mrs G just read the latest posts on this thread and told me to put the record straight. She insists that when we are out with a camera it is SHE who is artistic director picking the best views and angles. (If it pleases her I will concede that she does often perform that role. Plus, carries the monopod, and has to stand around while shots are being composed. )

[Ruby Slippers]

You were dreaming Grandad! Moi? A new camera? No way! At the moment I'm trying to get my head round Windows 8; trying to get used to an iPad; trying to finish off a quilt top and in between those - I've just got a knitting machine out of storage to knit some sweaters for my grand-daughter! I haven't touched a knitting machine for at least 4 years so it's a bit like going back to school! All this and keeping up with the washing, cooking, cleaning etc. I think my brain hurts!

[Horus]

Ah Windows 8, I have been wrestling with installing that on my desktop for the last couple of weeks, but it just seems to lock you into using all Windows applications similar to Apple with their ipads, iphones etc. so I decided to wait a bit longer.

And Grandad, I just knew there was a magic touch somewhere, now your secret is out!

[Kiya]

Fantastic photos Grandad !!! love all the colours especially love the photo of the lake, I could sit there all day admiring it.

What's the stuff to the left in your 2nd last photo??

[Ruby Slippers]

I'm really trying, Horus, so hopefully if you give me a couple of weeks, I'll be au fait and, to a certain degree, confident with Windows 8. I just need someone to give me another few hours in the day!

[Horus]

Kiya wrote

What's the stuff to the left in your 2nd last photo??

It couldn't be Papyrus by any chance?

[Grandad]

Kiya, the plant with the white plumes is loosely called 'Pampas Grass'. There are many species under this general heading but I believe the one in the gardens is 'Cortaderia selloana'

There are two more clumps across the lake in the same picture and if you care to have a look via the link you will see many more in pictures that I put on Google+.

https://plus.google.com/photos/11098780 ... 6957863073

[Kiya]

Horus I did think it was papyrus just looked to me to be more fluffy in Grandads photo.

Grandad your photos are beautiful I would love to have a park like that up here.

The reason I was asking my neighbour had a papyrus plant in her front garden, it was getting so tall each year blocking her view from her sitting window that she got her son to dig it out & scrap it, I wish I'd known when they dug it up I would have loved some in my garden

[Horus]

These pampas grasses do seem to thrive in our climate, everyone I see is usually huge.

[Grandad]

This really doesn't fit here but I wanted to post a comment and didn't need a new thread.

We went to a park this morning for a breath of fresh air and morning coffee, and possibly a late autumn pic. We came across a small boating lake and, sitting and standing at the edge were a number of elderly gentlemen with radio controllers with long aerials in their hands. They looked more like 'Fishing Garden Gnomes'. They were playing with their sailing boats.



I've heard of big boys and their toys but these big boys take the biscuit. I could not think of anything more boring.

[Kiya]

Its a nice photo Grandad & these toys look so expensive, I bet these boys & their toys belong to some sort of club

[LovelyLadyLux]

@ Grandad - these were all adults? I know there are auto clubs, train fanatics and flying clubs but I don't think I've come across man+ boats.

I guess the fellas were right into the wood-work, motors, remote controlled aspects of this. Not really my cup of tea but then I've been known to sit and knit and crochet. Not sure I could ever take the excitement of tatting.

[Grandad]

I was probably being a little over critical but to see men in (at least) their seventies just sitting waiting for their yacht to reach the other side of the pond then activate the rudder control to turn it around and bring it back seemed utterly boring to me.

I expect that they are members of a model club and build their own vessels to a very high standard and probably the actual build is the challenge, the sailing is just to prove that it works.

But they still looked like fishing gnomes to me.

PS: If there is absolutely no breeze to bring them back, one of their members has a powered model tug that he sends to give the stranded vessel a push......

I am a bit of an old cynic but I found it all highly amusing and there was not one young lad to be seen who might have shared an interest with his grandad.

[Horus]

Grandad, I have just been searching through my own albums to find some similar pictures, there is a lake near to me where they do the same thing. I think I may have it on video somewhere rather than images, but they do have all sorts of vessels from yachts to galleons and speedboats. I would say from looking at them (usually older blokes) that they have some sort of model making club and it is a showplace activity for their efforts as they seem to observe some sort of etiquette amongst the group.