The very last "fresh" plums 2013...

Right in front of my bedroom balcony...

...there's an old plum tree that is tightly in the stranglehold of a mighty ivy.

 

In the background of my first photo you can surmise the evergreen tree killer.

Not many branches of my bedroom neighbour bear fruits anymore in summertime. 

But this year many of them persevere until mid-November and were not eaten by birds or wasps.

Now they fall victim to mildew.

On a rainy morning I took the last fruits of 2013 before they'll fall off during the next autumn storm.

In springtime the old plum tree looked much more fresh-faced... ;-)

And nowadays the old plum even wears a beard - a fruticose lichen.

Happy November!

November trees

November 1, 2013, All Saints' Day.

Between Le Markstein (photo), a winter sports resort in the Vosges mountains, and Le Grand Ballon, the apex of the Vosges Mountains, in the French region of Alsace.

In a hight of approx.1200 m above mean sea level, the autunm was much more advanced compared to the surrounding lowlands - the Rhine valley.

In this height, the growth and thriving of the mountain trees is quite different from what we are used to have in lowlands.

On our hike in Grand Ballon direction we cut across a small forrest with wonderful knobby trees, most of them were beeches. Depending on their location, some of them already lost all of the leaves whereas some of them still had their foliage.

"The Black Beech"...

  

...and its sister!

"The Dark Flame"

"The Green Arrow"

Finally: outlook to the Vosges mountains.

Enjoy your November!

November deer and roses

This year's autumn in Germany is really unusually: yet no storms, no strong winds at all, no rain showers, no temperatures below 0°C - just calm and misty weather, sometimes with periods of great and warm sunshine. So many of the deciduous trees still have their withered leaves on their branches.

And most of the roses are not frozebitten.

So I was able to take some autumnal photos during my weekend stroll without having the disadvantages of normal German autumn weather...

The deer (fallow deer as far as I know) I found inside an enclosure of a small manison / country house.

They are really greedy, so it was no problem at all to entice many of them with some bread.

November beach kites

Colourful eyecatcher in front of a gray November sky.

Short prior shedding leaves...

Hi folks!

Fortunately November is still pampering our souls and sensory cells on our skin with some sun and comfortable temperatures. On Saturdays we took a stroll on the Swabian Alb above Pfullingen after a delicious lunch at the great restaurant Waldcafé.
Of course my camera was with me and I tried to take some pictures of the delightful sides of autumn.