This morning I went back to Lake Conestee Nature Preserve. I will probably go there two or three times a week until the fall colors begin to display. After that, I will try to visit several of the other parks I used to frequent, especially during color season. Right now, it just looks like late summer in this area. The weather has cooled down quite a bit; that’s why I’m able to go out into the woods now. All the bugs of summer have disappeared.

My old legs need to get back in shape, especially when dealing with uneven ground. Some trails have root systems or rocks scattered around, with small changes in elevation from time to time. Gotta get used to all of that again.

My first return to the park after many months happened on an overcast day, with little opportunity for interesting photographs, except for the closeup photo of a young heron. A few days later I went back. And the sun came out. You have already seen a couple of photos from that day: Alfred Hophornbeam the squirrel, and a quiet little spot lit up by the sun. I took a few photos before those.

One of the drawbacks of being a landscape photographer with lots of free time, but a severely limited budget, is the lack of an endless source of new places to explore. I have a 1/2 dozen or so places within driving distance, but some of them are far enough away that I don't visit them very often. And what that means is that I tend to see the same thing, over and over again. Changing seasons, changing weather, and changing light makes those “same things” look a bit different from time to time, and give me more photographing options. Nonetheless, the limits are still there, and sometimes frustrating.

Today I made my first trip to a local park since March, before all the Covid-19 shutdowns began. My area got a lot of rain in the past day or so. That helped to cool down the air and get rid of the summertime flying pests that keep me from hiking much in hot weather.