We  were excited about the Lunar Eclipse Sunday evening but the weather did not cooperate.  I had hoped to catch a moon rise but got this eastern view of sunset instead:

That is looking east at the CPR trestle over the outlet of the Magnetawan as the sun set over my shoulder.   The moon rose about 5 minutes later, totally obscured.   I checked for visibility all evening and, finally, at about 11:30 PM, saw a fleeting obscured oval of brightness.  The next morning was calm so I took this pic of the JP Siddal, a beautiful fishing tug:

Then down to Parry Sound via Hwy 529 where I noticed this beastie sitting on a stick:

When I got closer these scrambled out of the cattails:

Above, this Turkey Vulture kept an eye on things.

I haven’t determined what carcass they were feeding upon.

Then to the Magnetawan Loop, via Orange Valley and the Old Nippissing Road, which has some nice scenery, in spite of the drought conditions ….

The stream above usually is roaring down over those rocks, even at this time of the year.

On the way back I stopped to enjoy this sunset over Big (Gereaux) Lake:

It was still spectacular when I arrived home, 13 minutes later.

Yesterday we had a strong north easterly wind, which pulled some continental Arctic air into our area, giving a brilliant blue sky:

The above photo was taken on “The Bunny Trail”, a very nice drive from Waubamik to Dunchurch via Ardbeg.

So were these:

Very brilliant fall aster (one of the New England varieties, I think) attracting a bee mimic harvesting pollen and nectar.

These are the best that we have for fall colour so far this year.  I fear that the current drought in our area is causing the relatively drab showing this time around.  T. & C. Y. phoned to say that the colours north of the Sault can be counted on for a great show.  I will check into that.  In the meantime we’ll keep our eyes open in our neighbourhood!