It's Not Over Until It's Over

I took a mid-day walk on Saturday and saw the Oak Treehoppers under sunny conditions.  Then I walked through town, more for the exercise than for expectations of great photographic subjects.  However, after weeks of photographing and writing about extremely dry conditions along our roadsides, I was pleased to see the results of watering in people's yards and the the persistent blooming and fruit production in places near running water, such as the several prominent ditched creeks than run through town.

The apple trees hanging over the fence across from the museum was a good starting point.  I hope someone besides me eats some of these apples.  We have harvest events coming up.  Don't let these great apples rot on the pavement!

Once again, the large specimen of Mountain Ash on the courthouse lawn is putting on a show.  It is striking to see how large and healthy this tree has become under protected conditions when we are more accustomed to seeing smaller, snow-damaged ones at the higher elevations such as in Bucks Wilderness.

In a ditch that I think is Boyle Creek, there are several patches of Hooker's Evening Primrose that look as fresh as the early bloomers back in June.

In the same stretch of creek, just north of Lawrence street across from the Post Office, there are plenty of wild Forget-Me-Nots or Stickseed still blooming.

While not my favorite place to pick, this stretch of creek does have a fair amount of ripened blackberries.

Most of the Teasel in the area has dropped its seeds and dried out, but a few near the creek have fresh blooms.  Any they're only a foot or so tall which suggests that an earlier crop had been mowed and these are staging a late-season comeback.

The Tansy tend to stay in bloom longer than most late summer flowers, especially if there is water still near the surface.  They're always a great source of interesting flying insects and spiders.

Finally, a patch of mint near a rather unsavory-looking ditch.  It smelled nice, but I don;t think I'd use it for tea.  I saw oil slicks and other undesirable ingredients too close by.