Even though the brilliant colors of autumn have faded and fallen to the ground, there is still plenty to look at to remind us of the time of year.  I took my camera through the neighborhoods from Berkeley Park to Westcott Street and took some shots.   I hope you enjoy the textures, colors and whimsy as I did.

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This Halloween display shows what you can create with basic basement shelving, some pumpkins and a lot of cutting.  I haven’t seen this at night but the extension cords running down the back imply these charming ghouls shine brightly in the dark.  The flag adds a soft touch.  Check it out on Westcott Street before it all goes away.

We’re running out of degrees warm enough to cure paint so these guys are tending quickly to the prep work on this house on Allen Street.  The scraped off paint and wood create a textured effect I found appealing.  Allen is one of Syracuse’s most charming streets and it gets better all the time as people buy the Queen Annes and Four-Squares and fix them up.  Take a drive to Allen Street, park the car walk it.  Giant trees survive on Allen and give us a glimpse of what our entire city looked like when the Elms formed a tall bower over every street before Dutch Elm disease wiped out all the elms in the 1960s.

When they say “they don’t make ‘em like this anymore”, they’re talking about this place on Cambridge Street.  This modest little ranch has extraordinary detail in the windows on the front.  Every one of those panes of glass; rectangles, squares and diamonds, were all custom cut to fit into the wooden frames and the owners are to be commended for keeping them this way.   It’s expensive to maintain the paint and wood.  The glass cracks occasionally and needs to be replaced.  Many homeowners don’t bother anymore and just stick in vinyl replacement windows with “panes” of plastic that snap in to look like individual pieces of glass but end up looking no better than tape.  Nice touch that the paint scheme matches the bark on the tree!

This novel paint combination of brown with teal gets a spark of color with the chartreuse leaves hanging onto the tree in the front yard.

This front yard, postage stamp in size, has autumn color in the form of political campaign signs.  This house and the brown one are on Harvard Place.

Much of the colorful foliage in our region has gone away, except this smoke tree on Dorset Street which sets the block on fire.  What a beauty.

Ornamental grasses hold marvelous pattern and play, especially at this time of year when they send up plumes of seed.

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When Black-eyed Susans drop their yellow petals, all that remain are the black eyes.  This cluster planted on the tree-belt on Berkeley Drive provide velvety contrast to the sidewalk beside them.

For those desiring something unusual on the porch, there are heirloom pumpkins with variations in color and striping.  These nestle beautifully among hardy mums on Berkeley Drive.

You know the drill.  I’ll start us off, you provide the rest.  Reader suggestions are posted in the “comments”, below:

1.  Route 20, in all directions from Buffalo to the Massachusetts border.

2.  Driving around Keuka Lake

3.  Oakwood Cemetery, Syracuse

4.  In front of the fireplace, book on lap, wine in hand.

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Today was so beautiful outside that I didn’t know whether to go to Jamesville Beach where Christian was running for the Nottingham High School cross country team, or to have my morning coffee staring out the window of the breakfast room.

Should I start tidying up the flower beds, cutting the wilted perennials within a few inches of the ground and cultivating the soil?

Perhaps I should refill the bird feeders which are so popular now, I may have to sell a kidney to keep up the need for black oil sunflower seed and suet cakes.

I may want to sit outdoors and catch up with friends by phone.

The bird bath needs cleaning.  I could let the dogs play with the hose after I’m done cleaning for the birds.

I might prune the shrubby dogwood under the kitchen window.  Today would be a good day to do it.  I wouldn’t get too hot dragging the branches into the woods.

I probably should clean out the left side of the garage which the cat is messing up now that it’s getting too cold at night to leave the window open for him to come and go.

I think I should do some ghost writing for a blogger in the Philippines who assigned me three articles.

Christian wants more groceries.  Maybe we should take a quick trip to P and C right around the corner.

A glass of wine would be wonderful at 5:00 in my lounge chairs overlooking the back yard, back lit by the setting sun.

Unable to chose, today on this most lovely of September days, I did all of it.