If the rain ever stops, hopefully there will still be some fall color outside to take pictures of.

The latest puzzle.

Pumpkin display at the Apple Barn

Gathering celery seed near Santa Ynez, California

Along the front walk, mums are fading now, sadly

Jim, that's interesting. I never imagined how celery seed was collected.

Speaking of seed, I took this yesterday. I won't hang the bird feeders until the bears are settled in hibernation, and the hungry birds have been raiding the cat food dishes on the porch. So I put some sunflower seeds on the porch railing for them. It disappears quickly!

A little of my Halloween decorations. The rat talks. Says 3 different things one of which includes a loud belch. The duct tape on his tale is because of the abundance of loving gotten from neighborhood children. :) The green/blue pumpkin is a first for me this year. I really like it. The farmer told me it makes the best pumpkin pie.

Love nut hatches!

These 2 came out from under our house...only saw them one day. Mom probably moved them.

A beach-side pumpkin patch. The community here participates and all of the small 'pumpkins' have signatures of the folks that added their art to the main exhibit.

A beautiful day!

Zuppa! It is fall and time for my favorite, which is Tuscan bean soup. Big pot for a friend, yesterday.

Following my post yesterday about the museum in Brazil that burned, I'll post some pictures from my visit to the Rio Zoo which is adjacent to the museum. I've selected some that are inspired by each of the images above:

The grizzly bear weighs about 1/2 of what a giant pumpkin weighs:

these are flowers that were growing in the zoo:

these fun-shaped trash receptacles look sort of like a row of pumpkins:

Guys working with plants ... they are feeding the giraffe

A bright red thing in the middle of the picture ... well orange anyway.

A pathway ... a road curving up a hill just outside the park

A bird on a railing ... This looks like a nuthatch's big brother.

A laughing rat ... A rodent that you wouldn't laugh about

kittens ... a feral cat that was sleeping in the zoo

no sand sculptures in the zoo, but after leaving there we stopped back at our hotel on Copacabana Beach which had this view

Finished this one yesterday.

A brief standoff. Two coyotes were being chased by this dog, but one coyote began howling and within a few minutes it became 3-to-1 engagement.

Alisande, my mom used to spread out some seed on her back deck railing for the birds, especially when things froze. It seemed to work well, though I understand your concern about the bears! I don't recall why she did this on top of using a feeder. Nice pictures, everyone!

A giant cornucopia at a maple syrup farm in Vermont:

Dawn - I've been there many times. It's a popular local attraction and fun to visit. Nice pic!

Thanks, skibby!

We had a great day exploring the farm - love Vermont!