All Good Things Must End

Given all my allergies that seem to take a turn for the worse in the fall -- things like the dust and mold from the falling leaves, ready for harvesting hayfields and such -- you'd think I'd want to hibernate this time of year. Not so: In fact, this is my favorite season of all. The weather is cool (anything much above 80 degrees and I turn into a shrew), and who can resist all that gloriously colored foliage?

By this time, though, much of that color has disappeared, falling to the ground to be raked up into huge piles that delight children (just not me -- those allergies, remember)? Even worse, Nov. 2 marks the end of Daylight Savings Time in this neck of the woods, meaning that for the next five months or so, darkness can fall before most folks get home from work.

So yesterday, the last day of October, we headed to the park for what we suppose is the last time before the trees and bushes are predominently barren. From then until the first big snowfall, there's not much worth photographing.

When we arrived at the visitor center, we noticed park maintenance crews and volunteers hard at work cleaning out flower beds, mowing and otherwise preparing the area for the onset of winter. Pumpkins, gourds and orange ribbons still are scattered here and there, adding touches of much-needed color to some of the now-leafless nooks and crannies.

In one way, it was sad; it's never fun for me to watch fall disappear. But in another, it was a good sign -- evidence that when spring finally makes a reappearance, everything will be all right with the park world. We snapped a few photos around the visitor center and Fellows Riverside Gardens, then moved on to other parts of the park to see what we could see. Lanterman's Mill soon will be decorated for the Christmas holidays; on this day, it looked a bit stark.

Then, we headed for Newport Lake, stopping briefly to get photos near the Goose Bridge. Even the large geese, usually out in such great numbers that it's hard to navigate without watching carefully where you step (if you get my drift!), were almost nonexistent.

With a sigh, we pointed the car out of the park and toward home. That's it for a while now -- although I'm quite sure the sun will make an appearance one of these weeks, beckoning us to once again make the journey to our favorite Ohio park.

When we do, you'll be the first to know what we found!