The idea for this Thursday Tree Love post about the tree that signals the end of summer popped in my brain a few days ago, as my husband and I were coming home from shopping. As we came around the corner of a road not too far from our place, I noticed a tree was already putting its fall colors on. I said something to the effect of, "Cut it out, you 🤬 🤬 🤬 tree - summer's not over yet!" to which my husband laughed and responded, "Don't you say that every year around this time to that same exact tree?
He's not wrong. 😂
Then I realized that every year when I see the early autumn leaves, I think about getting some pictures of this distant early warning tree (and incidentally, that song came on the radio on the way home), but I never actually do. So I figured that making it a subject for this #ThursdayTreeLove would help me finally get around to doing it. And as you can see, I did!
It ended up being a bit trickier than I anticipated, as the tree is situated in a somewhat bad spot for stopping, either in a car, or by foot, as it's on a sort of blind corner. Given the 93F/34C temps outside today, it was an easy decision to have my husband drive me down to take some shots out the car window, rather than park nearby and walk. I got about a dozen from across the street, then another dozen-ish after we drove down the street and came back in the opposite direction. The twelve best are below.
But before I get on with the pictures, a quick shout out to my WordPress blogging friend Parul to say thank you for hosting this awesome blog hop every couple of weeks, especially knowing what a challenging time you've had recently. If you want to join in the Tree love blog hop fun, it's wicked easy - here's the description from her latest post today, called #ThursdayTreeLove – 111:
Thursday Tree love is a photo feature hosted on this blog on every 2nd and 4th Thursday of a month. The next edition will go live on September 9, 2021. If you would like to play along, post a picture of a tree on your blog, tell me where did you spot the tree and link it back to this post.
If you don’t see the pingback, please leave a link to your post in my comments section. Please make sure that your post’s link is showing up on this latest edition. I will link your posts on my blog in the next edition and spread some love. Let’s come together to appreciate the beautiful nature around us.
As for these photos, as per my usual FYI - these were taken not too far from my Durham, NH home with my Nikon (no tripod this time, just my arm braced against the door of the car...lol). All were resized, then cleaned up a bit with PicMonkey (mostly the exposure and sharpness, but with a few other tweaks like vignette filters for the corners here and there).
Now for the photos...
The tree that signals the end of summer.
1. This shot, even with the fancy PicMonkey filters, doesn't do justice to the pop of color this tree has in this sea of green.
2. More filters and a different angle help a bit, but it's much more dramatic in person. I think I need to plan to work on my fall foliage skills this autumn. Oh, and I didn't crop out the top of the side mirror with the little bit of my wrist showing because I thought it made for kind of a cool way to show where I was when I took the shot.
3. Funny thing is, for many years I've always assumed this was a Red Maple tree, because of the shape of the leaves, as well as the fact it turns bright red so early in the season. Made enough sense to my brain that I never bothered to confirm.
4. But after a little bit of Googling...
5. I discovered that this is actually a Sugar Maple Tree!
6. The difference between the two, according to Northern Woodlands Mission (an educational nonprofit located here in New Hampshire), is "The leaf margins tell the main story: sugar maples have smooth edges while red maples are toothed or serrated."
7. There are lots of other ways to tell the difference between the two (be sure to take a gander at the original article for more of them), but that sentence alone confirmed it for me. And I'm thinking in about another week or so, this will be entirely red, without any hints of green.
8. Even though I'm complaining that summer is almost over already, I never get tired of seeing this beautiful combo of red and green, light and shadow.
9. I didn't realize until editing this shot that you can see the "helicopters" or seed pods almost ready to fly off the sugar maple branches.
9a. Here's a zoomed in & cropped bit of the previous picture to show what I mean - I've always known these as "helicopters" or sometimes "whirlybirds" but according to the Farmers' Almanac article, When Will You See Maple ‘Copters Flying? -
"First, the technical term for this winged seed is samara, which refers to a specialized fruit that is designed to travel long distances from the parent tree. Some ash and elm trees also produce samaras, although the maple’s samaras are the very best at flying."
10. The FA article has lots of other cool bits of info, so I definitely recommend checking it out. And in this shot, you can see more of the helicopters getting ready to fly in the upper right corner...
11. ... along with this rather striking shadow. Is it just me, or does this look like a young girl and boy, sitting face to face high up in the tree?
12. Maybe it was the heat causing this optical "delusion"...lol! Regardless, I like to think I caught a couple of young fairy folk planning some magical shenanigans while the warm weather is still here to enjoy. And according to the calendar, there are only 27 more days until the official first day of fall.
EDITED TO ADD: In chatting with @ninahaskin in the comment section on Hive, I remembered that I completely spaced mentioning in my post that the best thing about those copters, besides throwing them back up in the air and watching them spin back down, was to split the green seed at the end in half, and sticking it to the tip of your nose! Like this (and yes, there's a reddit for that)! 🤣
Hope you enjoyed my photos of the tree that signals the end of summer. Happy Thursday Tree Love everyone!
Thanks for stopping by!
My posts may occasionally contain affiliate links. If you click through,
I might get a wicked small commission, with no extra cost to you.
My photographs are taken with my trusty Nikon,
sometimes utilizing my handy dandy tripod.
Blog graphics created on Canva
All words and images are mine (unless otherwise indicated),
and can also be found on my various social media sites.
Speaking of witch which...
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
Posted from my blog with Exxp : https://www.traciyork.com/the-tree-that-signals-the-end-of-summer-for-parul2411s-thursdaytreelove/
Glad you decided to create your post. Autumn is the best! While I've seen a hints of autumn colors playing peekaboo none boldly stand out in as big of sizes as your vibrant images.
Both of us grew up knowing and calling those winged seeds "helicopters" or "whirlybirds." Speaking of which I never had as many whirlybirds as last year! Though tinier than usual, they fully covered the front porch and mulched areas like a blanket of snow! Somewhere in the cloud I have photos of them...
After you pointed out the boy and girl shadows in #11 I cannot unsee them. How cute! But where are their masks?
Have a great Friday and weekend! @traciyork
😍
Thanks, @ninahaskin and I have to say that I love Autumn too! But just like when I'm at the store and see Santa at the end of the Halloween aisle, I'm annoyed and want it to wait its turn! 😂
It would be awesome if you found your "helicopter" photos. I don't recall having a ton of them last year, but I think I remember seeing tons more acorns and hickory nuts, so it wouldn't surprise me if we did too. And I completely spaced mentioning in my post that the best thing about those copters, besides throwing them back up in the air and watching them spin back down, was to split the green seed at the end in half, and sticking it to the tip of your nose! 😂 I think I'll edit that in shortly.
I'm glad I'm not the only one to see the fae hanging out in the tree and my guess is that their masks are made of gossamer silk, which would make them hard to see at this distance... 😉 😁
Hope you have an amazing weekend as well, Nina and thanks for dropping by!
Hi dear @traciyork very nice and colourful leaves.
I was fascinated when I saw the trees. The leaves of the trees have bright colors. Beauty is spreading in the middle of nature. You have captured beautiful photography.👌👌
Thank you for your kind words, @sumaiya777. 😊
Maple helicopter seeds must be so cool to watch take off on a gentle breeze, the fall brings such a wonderful appeal to us that never see landscapes like this @traciyork
Thanks for sharing you little first signalling tree along the road, no need to scold it, it's giving you ample warning of imminent change.
!LUV
<><
@traciyork, you've been given LUV from @joanstewart.
Check the LUV in your H-E wallet. LUV changes soon. (1/10)
Hello @traciyork, many thanks you for this beautiful walk and collection of colourful trees, the contrast with the blue sky fascinating me.
The #ThursdayTreeLove inspires to continue discovering and enjoying the diversity of trees, which offers us so much wellbeing and pleasure.
Happy live!
Many thanks in return for your kind words, @raizayanez! Hope you have a wonderful week ahead! 😊
Oh!!! How dare it get all fall-y in those temperatures!
Love the colors! It's falling up there!!!!
I know, right Denise? Hey Mother Nature...
😂
And thanks so much! 🥰
Lol. You crack me up!
https://peakd.com/@dna.org
Hello; @traciyork
We appreciate your work and your post was manually shared on Twitter by @papilloncharity from the DNA team!
Reach us on Discord to learn more about the project!
You and your amazing replies Lady Traci.
The reply is better than my posts hahaha.
Only a pleasure.
Again? Cuter and cuter you get milady.
!PIZZA
@traciyork! I sent you a slice of $PIZZA on behalf of @papilloncharity.
Did you know you can spend $PIZZA on games in the $Pizza Store? (4/10)
Thank you for sharing this amazing post on HIVE!
Your content got selected by our fellow curator @kaerpediem & you just received a little thank you via an upvote from our non-profit curation initiative!
You will be featured in one of our recurring curation compilations and on our pinterest boards! Both are aiming to offer you a stage to widen your audience within and outside of the DIY scene of hive.
Join the official DIYHub community on HIVE and show us more of your amazing work and feel free to connect with us and other DIYers via our discord server: https://discord.gg/mY5uCfQ !
If you want to support our goal to motivate other DIY/art/music/homesteading/... creators just delegate to us and earn 100% of your curation rewards!
Stay creative & hive on!
@kaerpediem & @diyhub...
It's a really beautiful day, I also plan to spend some time walking to enjoy the winter, August rains a lot.. sometimes I think I'm not going anywhere. Thanks for sharing :)
Thank you, @tinta-tertuang! Even with the yuck temperature and humidity, it really was a beautiful looking day. And we've had a great deal of rain over this past summer, so I hear that! Appreciate you stopping by! 😊
Thanks you @traciyork Yes, it's the same, in my area of Indonesia, more precisely in Aceh, the same thing also happened, here it also rains all day, usually August is not the rainy season basically.
I know, @thekittygirl! You'd think that after fifty-six years of living around here, it wouldn't shock me so much when I see the first foliage peeking out late August... 😲😂
And, yes! Glad to know I'm not the only one seeing youngsters amongst the leaves - I was a bit concerned that my brain was melting
as it always seems to do. 😆I cannot imagine you swearing at a tree hahaha
LOL! Yeah @kaerpediem, while I don't do it often on my blog (especially knowing my mother peeks in at my WordPress one from time to time), my husband and our kids (who are all in their 20s, so not really kids any more I suppose 😜) can attest to the fact that my usual descriptive word of choice begins with the letter F... 😳🤣
hahahaha
Hey, it does cover just about every emotion right hehehe
😂
Signs of Autumn, haha those trees are so beautiful especially the sugar maple tree. My first time of see one, but will love to see it and touch it.
Here, it is still raining heavily, the sky cloudy, except for days the sun decides to shine and let clothings dry up🙄.
Here is a picture of a tree close to my work place and there is no sign of autumn. It is so green😅
Thanks so much @esther-emmanuel and that's a great shot! And I hope the weather clears for you soon! 😊
Love the shots of the red maple leaves 😍
And thanks, @purepinay - while I'm not happy the summer's almost over, it makes it easier with beauty like this to enjoy. 😊
I agree! You're very lucky! We don't get to experience that in my country but I would really love to some day. Still waiting for my interview for my visa application, if only our county wouldn't be going on lockdown again. 😔
Ugh, that's right - I heard the lockdown was happening again in the Philippines. Numbers are rising here in New Hampshire too (well, all over it seems), and I continue to hope that this is the last big wave before things start to get better. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you're able to get your visa interview soon - especially if we get to travel vicariously with you through your blog! 🤞
Trees are perfect models for photography, there are different species and colours, which give a different perspective on the photograph.
I agree @wilfredocav, which is why I never get tired of taking pictures of them. 😊
I also love to photograph trees and nature in general, and I would like to publish some of those photographs that I like.
I think that's an awesome idea, @wilfredocav!
Autumn is so nice.
I am so happy I live in a place where there are 4 seasons. Snow at winter time, than can't wait for greenery at spring, followed by hot and dry summer and autumn with that beautiful scenery...
My husband and I have talked about moving to some other part of the country, but I keep coming back to the whole 4 seasons thing - I've lived in this area all my life, and I can't imagine watching winter turn to spring, the leaves falling to the ground, and such. So I totally get what you're saying, @crazy-andy and thank you for swinging by. 😊
~~~ embed:1431578668703289347 twitter metadata:WmFjU21pdDE4MDY4ODM4fHxodHRwczovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL1phY1NtaXQxODA2ODgzOC9zdGF0dXMvMTQzMTU3ODY2ODcwMzI4OTM0N3w= ~~~
The rewards earned on this comment will go directly to the person sharing the post on Twitter as long as they are registered with @poshtoken. Sign up at https://hiveposh.com.
Oops sorry about the accident unfollow, Traci! Hehe I meant to click the Upvote on the latest post but the internet providers in my country are incompetent. Hehe
LOL! No worries, @purepinay and thanks for letting me know. 🤗
Congratulations @traciyork! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Your next target is to reach 95000 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPHaha I live this one!