I don’t know why but I enjoy seeing how plants change once cool weather arrives. Cat tails and Milkweed puff out and their seeds blow through fields and meadows, flowers turn to seed heads and of course, the leaves on the trees change from green to red, orange, gold and yellow.

While we may regret the loss of summer, Autumn can be a beautiful time of year if we just take a moment to enjoy it.

During a walk in the park I came across this pretty blue wild flower with a snail perched above it. I’m not big on snails, but it looked pretty beside the flower and as you can see it photographed quite well.

Isn’t this flower seed head beautiful? I came across it while taking a walk in one of Toronto’s city parks. The flower it comes from was a tiny white flower that blooms in clusters, possibly a wild phlox … although I’m really not sure of the flowers identity. It doesn’t matter though … it’s seed head is just spectacular.

About a month ago I came upon this huge bumble bee just sitting within a cluster of tiny phlox flowers. The bee eventually moved around and collected some pollen from the flowers, but for the most part it seems quite content sitting between all of the petals. Perhaps it was taking a rest from it’s busy day.

I took this photo last weekend when we went to The Brick Works here in Toronto. It’s a nature preserve filled with native plants and native fauna.

This pond is located right after you pass the old brickworks buildings. There’s no swimming allowed of course, but it’s good that they have a life preserver there (and in other areas ) just in case someone falls in.

We brought our Lab puppy with us as it was a great way to give her a little exercise and of course all she wanted to do on that hot day was jump in the water which of course is not allowed at nature preserves! We took her to the beach the next day where she was able to get her fill of being in the water.

A happy bumble bee gathering pollen from a Malva Sylvestra flower.

In the fall the bumble bees were happily enjoying all of my flowers that were still in bloom, gathering the last of the pollen for the year. It’s amazing how many bumble bees a small garden can fill up with on a nice autumn day. I’m glad bumble bees are calm and don’t mind being photographed.

I took this photo in early October. The bumble bees were all over my New York Asters enjoying the pollen. I love watching the bees try to fly away with their back legs coated in pollen.  It’s kind of funny at times.

This is Myrtle my Ornate Box turtle.

Picture taken during the Summer of 2006 as the turtles were on an outdoor adventure in my garden.

I took this photo of a Blue Jay in my in-laws backyard. To date it’s the only Blue Jay picture I’ve managed to take! The one thing that I like about visiting the in-laws is that they tend to have lots of birds in their backyard – Blue Jays, Cardinals, Mourning doves and many others.

A photo of a Robin in a tree. I took this picture at my In-laws house in Brantford Ontario. There’s always lots of birds in their area – much more so than in my Toronto backyard!