Filling in the blanks

This fall is simply bustling in central Indiana. As I'm sure is true in many parts of the country, you can just feel the excitement of fall. The crisp air carrying a mixture of glorious odors from wood fire smoke to barbecue and even the waft of fall leaves every once in a while. Although the dry hot summer may have diminished the color of the season, the maple trees are beginning to express themselves on a daily basis. Friday nights bring the sounds of bands and cheers and fireworks to the small towns as folks rally around the high school football teams. Other nights and Saturdays moms and dads huddle together under blankets as their kids run around in long socks and shorts kicking a spotted ball at each other.The fields along the highways and back roads are becoming increasingly flat as dust clouds rise behind harvesting equipment and truck away to haul away the spoils of the season's labor coupled with the provision from above. (Meager as it was this year.).
This week as highway 26 became passable, I had more decisions to make. With daylight shrinking around me, in some ways, I'm relieved to have a wider, straighter route to and from Lafayette, yet it was difficult to say goodbye to my discoveries on the alternate routes. With the Fairmount James Dean Festival, Jonesboro River Run, and Gas City Ducktail Run all occurring this weekend (you'll have to go to past posts for those websites or go find them yourself.) I started seeing more and more vintage cars and hot rods on the road each day. Today, they are filling the streets of these otherwise sleepy communities. Talk about bringing back memories. Although folks of all ages have come to town, I'm convinced that the mean age of people in southern Grant County will go up significantly this weekend. People who can sing the words to "See ya later alligator" and "Peggy Sue" from memory gather to ogle each other's pride and joy machines and tell the same stories they have told each other annually. Thursday night, I decided to take 26 all the way to Fairmount to see how they were transforming that town for the arrival of nostalgia hunting visitors. Even then, I was seeing restored old cars on the road all the way from Russiaville to Gas City. Last night since the weather was just wonderful, I wanted to take advantage of waning sunshine to try to get some pictures of a pumpkin patch just west of Greentown that had emerged as pumpkin leaves began to fade, revealing those orange orbs of autumn joy. It worked out perfectly. Please enjoy the pictures and little movie (If I can get it to upload)... You can see that I was taking the first picture with the camera pointed toward the east. If you don't see the clue that tells you this, you'll have to comment to get more clues... Of course if you figure it out, feel free to brag about your powers of observation.Also, I should warn you that although I have tried to catch them all, my computer is again typing extra t's at random. Please pretend you are reading phone text and read the words I meant to type along with those on the page.