10/08/11 APPLEFEST FUN AND COLOR

APPLEFEST DAWN

STOMACH TURNER

KIDS RIDE, PARENTS PAY

VIRGINIA CREEPER

FIVE LEAFLETS

AMERICAN SMOKETREE

Saturday, 7:30 AM.  64 degrees, wind WNW, light.  The sky is lightly overcast.  The weather is actually balmy, which one hopes is not the calm before the storm, as the barometer does predict rain.  I think the chances are not too great, however, as the humidity is pretty low. 
    Anyway, this is the big day for Applefest and the town will be overflowing with visitors, and even a shower or two will not dampen their spirits.  There is some out-of-town parking and a shuttle this year also Bay Area Rural Transit is running buses from nearby towns to the shuttles.  This is the 50th Anniversary of the first Applefest, wich drew 5,000 visitors.  I am sure there will be twenty times that at least this year.
    The carnival rides and games were really busy last night; what would a small town be without its annual carney rides and games? The kids really look forward to the excitement even as the parents have to dig deep for the price of tickets these days.
    The color is virtually at peak this weekend, and I hope it will linger, although this unseasonably warm weather doesn’t help.  Pictured are a few more unusual or perhaps unnoticed colorful plants.  The Virginia creeper, AKA woodbine, of which there are two species hereabouts, Parthinocissus quinquifolia and P. inserta, in the grape family (Vitaceae). They add interest to tree trunks, rocks and other plants as they climb about, the former by little suction discs on the tendrils, the latter by tendrils alone. They are closely related to the cultivated Boston ivy.
    There is no other leaf color or pattern quite like the American smoke tree, Cotinus obovatus, native to the southern Midwest.  It is in the cashew (Anacardiaceae) family, and is closely related to the sumacs.
    We have been following the Brewers all season, and Andy and Judy came over for a “tailgate” dinner and we watched them beat the Diamond Backs to advance in the playoffs.  It was a ten-inning, 3 to 2 squeaker.
    Lucky is a little better, we actually walked down to the corner and back this morning. limping along.  I have a touch of the gout so I limped a bit too, perhaps in sympathy.