After The Storm

After a day of driving rain, much of the beautiful fall color is still on the trees - but much of it is now on the ground, too!
Looking towards downtown on Portage Ave.

Wait For It

Yesterday evening and today have been so grey and rainy that I considered going outside, pointing my camera at the sky, and letting raindrops fall on the lens. Instead, I waited. About 5:30 I was rewarded with a flash of setting sun under the stormclouds, sunlit trees contrasting with the dark sky.


Is what you see what others see when you look up? The question is answered at Skywatch Friday.

Backlit

The sun shining through a row of kayaks at Three Rivers' downtown outfitters. Canoe and kayak are a great way to see the fall color, always at its most intense over the water. The outfitters call themselves "Liquid Therapy", a great business name!

Buy This. Now.

During the Three Rivers Fall Color Tour, a family was selling wonderful varietal grape juices and other fruit juice with the help of their dog. So cute. How could you refuse?

Recycled Scarecrow, Recycling

One of the features of last weekend's Three Rivers Fall Color Tour were scarecrows sponsored by local school groups, local businesses, and other groups; this one was presented by Love Your Mother, a downtown store selling many recycled, organic, and "earth friendly" items. The scarecrows were all arranged along a walkway in Meyer-Broadway Park, and visitors could vote on their favorites. Most of them were hilarious.

Copper and Brass

This is a look at the German-made copper and brass still in the Brandy House at Cory Lake Orchards (described in yesterday's post.) Although the color of the metal is beautiful, the form and patterns are even more striking in b&w.

For more of the monochrome view of the world this week go to The Monochrome Weekly, where links will take you around the world.

Brandy is Dandy

A gloomy morning morphed into a sunny afternoon for the Three Rivers Color Tour. At the Cory Lake Orchard stop is a miniature festival - besides the farm stand selling their fruit, there are baked goods, juices, honey and jelly, along with cards and artwork.

Going past the bins of apples, up the hill, through the barns and farm equipment to this back room - oh look, there's people in there...

(Click the photo for a larger view.) This is one for Hidden Treasures of the Midwest, which finds all sorts of interesting food items. Here in an orchard by Cory Lake, Three Rivers, brandy is made in a beautiful imported copper still from apples, cherries, pears and peaches from their own orchards, "from seed to sip". I'm not usually a fan of strong alcohol, but this stuff tastes of fruit and sunshine. Speck sized tastes let me try a variety; I liked the cherry (made from sour cherries, like traditional Kirschwasser) and the apple, which is aged in wood and has a dark color and intense flavors.

Jim Bickle runs the cider and brandy house at Cory Lake Orchards and entertained the crowd with descriptions of the brandy, the fruit, and the process. I came home with apples, a gallon of beautiful rose colored cider, an apple dumpling, and a bottle of cherry -- and a bottle of apple brandy. One will be a gift. Which one?

Cory Lake Orchards has a website, coreylakeorchards.com