A day of indulgence
I’ll beg your indulgence for one more post about the colorful aspen trees (Populus tremuloides)
we found in the mountains northeast of Santa Fe on October 18th.
I could keep showing pictures of them for days.
But I won’t. In the next post I’ll move on.
I owe that last picture to construction, which had a stretch of the road’s two lanes down to one. Cars going in opposite directions got alternating use of the open lane every 15 minutes or so. Since I was stuck there anyhow I didn’t have to worry about finding a place to park. I got out and walked around taking pictures, including this one where backlighting lit up the foliage.
© 2022 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
In the present era of gloom and doom, one cannot get enough to see the remaining beauty of our natural world. Thanks for sharing your autumnal impressions of your memorable trip, Steve!
Peter Klopp
November 28, 2022 at 9:37 AM
You’re welcome. How could I not share the beauties I saw in New Mexico? I’ve been getting my share of fall foliage in Texas, too, both in Austin and a few hours to the west.
Steve Schwartzman
November 28, 2022 at 8:38 PM
You found a lovely spot with beautiful fall yellows!
circadianreflections
November 28, 2022 at 9:45 AM
I sure did, and of a different type than what’s available in Austin. 7000 ft. higher altitude and a location hundreds of miles further north make a big difference.
Steve Schwartzman
November 28, 2022 at 8:40 PM
Great to see these pictures of glowing, golden foliage. I notice the trunks in the 2nd shot have a lot of kinks, I wonder if that’s due to snowfalls in the past.
Robert Parker
November 28, 2022 at 1:56 PM
Perhaps the trunks were mimicking the photographer.
Steve Schwartzman
November 28, 2022 at 8:42 PM
A traffic stop that was well worth it!
Eliza Waters
November 28, 2022 at 3:47 PM
As much as I don’t normally like traffic delays, this one worked very nicely in my favor.
Steve Schwartzman
November 28, 2022 at 8:43 PM
The traffic delay was a golden opportunity for you.
Gallivanta
November 28, 2022 at 9:11 PM
Literally and figuratively.
Steve Schwartzman
November 28, 2022 at 9:24 PM
They are gorgeous so do not apologise for showing more of them. Your traffic delay reminded me of the one where we had to queue to enter Zion NP at least 15 minutes so I took the opportunity to go out with my camera.
Heyjude
November 29, 2022 at 6:06 AM
“Waste not, want not.” We’ve both chosen not to waste the time caught in traffic. And I won’t waste the opportunity to keep on showing glorious fall foliage. It just won’t come from the same drive up into the mountains above Santa Fe; we found good fall color elsewhere, both on that same day and later days. And this week good fall foliage has come way way in Austin and three hours west of here, so there’ll be no shortage of colorful autumnal foliage in future posts.
Steve Schwartzman
November 29, 2022 at 7:13 AM
I’ve managed to keep my autumn foliage-envy in check, but these photos, and suggestions that you’ve found good color in places closer to home (perhaps even at Lost Maples) has stirred it up. Perhaps we’re just lagging down here, but even the grasses have seemed duller than usual. I did laugh at your construction zone story. I wouldn’t mind being stopped so frequently if our views from the traffic line were so beautiful!
That said, the second photo is especially appealing. The combination of colors and forms is terrific; I think the collection of conifers at the bottom must be the same species as the ‘lone tree’ that you featured in a previous post.
shoreacres
November 29, 2022 at 8:26 AM
In my reply to your previous comment I confirmed that we lucked out again at Lost Maples, where the bigtooth maples seemed at their peak of color. We’d planned to visit on Sunday and move on to Garner State Park on Monday; however, after seeing how good the trees were on Sunday, we canceled Garner and returned to Lost Maples yesterday morning, following one different trail and then quickly repeating Sunday’s trail to push beyond where we’d stopped as the sun got low. Even Austin’s been producing some good fall color. I’m sorry it hasn’t carried over to the coast. Let’s hope it still will.
The second photo is another one from the stop that produced the vertical view of aspen trunks in the November 26th post. I wish I knew how to tell one conifer from another. Northern New Mexico has a bunch of them.
Steve Schwartzman
November 29, 2022 at 8:39 AM
The white tree-trunks and golden leaves are a combination full of delicate beauty. I had a similar experience in seeing birch woodland one wonderful autumn on the west of Scotland. Glorious! 🙂
Ann Mackay
December 1, 2022 at 6:24 AM
We’ll have to swap: I’ll visit Scotland and you’ll visit New Mexico.
Steve Schwartzman
December 1, 2022 at 9:01 AM
🙂
Ann Mackay
December 1, 2022 at 10:42 AM
It’s not all that often that traffic works to our advantage. Glad you were able to find such a time. 🙂 I really like the middle two with the trunks and the color.
Todd Henson
December 2, 2022 at 5:43 AM
“Sweet are the uses of adversity,” said someone famous. I took him up on it for the last photo.
The second picture is one of a bunch I took at the same grove. Two posts earlier I showed a vertical take.
In the third picture I like the way the leaves shine out against the darkness below. In real life my eyes saw plenty of details in the darkness but the photographic version of reality is more dramatic.
Steve Schwartzman
December 2, 2022 at 6:01 AM
You found a nice group and good contrast in your second image … nicely framed.
denisebushphoto
December 2, 2022 at 12:18 PM
I felt like a novice in your territory so I tried a bunch of framings and compositions both horizontal and vertical.
Steve Schwartzman
December 2, 2022 at 4:47 PM
Who would complain about indulging aspen beauty?
Steve Gingold
December 4, 2022 at 10:02 AM
Good. I’ll shut down the complaints department.
Steve Schwartzman
December 4, 2022 at 6:42 PM
I could keep looking at pictures of them for days. 😊
tanjabrittonwriter
December 4, 2022 at 6:18 PM
And you live among them. Imagine how excited I was to see so many of them.
Steve Schwartzman
December 4, 2022 at 6:43 PM
That’s obvious–and completely relatable!
tanjabrittonwriter
December 4, 2022 at 7:30 PM
Maybe you’ll visit Texas and do posts about the wildflowers here.
Steve Schwartzman
December 4, 2022 at 7:46 PM
If I ever make it to Texas, I’m afraid I will only have birds on my mind. 😊
tanjabrittonwriter
December 5, 2022 at 6:15 PM
Then here’s to avian reportage.
Steve Schwartzman
December 5, 2022 at 10:04 PM