Toby at the Androscoggin River (Papermill Trail)

We decided to walk part of the Papermill Trail to photograph Toby within Autumn's coat of many colors. This location is almost at the height of color being about 12.5 miles inland from Casco Bay, as the crow flies. At about 10:45am, we walked over to a boulder and down to the edge of the Androscoggin River to an outcropping of granite. The air was still and the river was glassy smooth.

Because Toby is blind, we don't let him off leash right away. We let him get the lay of the land, so to speak. Drew takes him to different parts of the rock and I snap tons of photos.

Toby is so cute and he is a master at avoiding looking at me during photo sessions. I forgot to bring a squeaky toy with me, so it took me forever to get a few photos of his head looking in my direction.

One last shot of him with Drew. You can see that he was getting so much more comfortable on the rock.

And, ta da! Drew took the leash off Toby for a few minutes while he stood stock still on the rock all by himself!

Such a good boy!

Papermill Trail Walk

We just cannot get enough of the autumn colors, so we took a nice walk along the Androscoggin River portion of the Papermill Trail today.

This has always been a favorite location of ours for photographing the dogs, and today did not disappoint!

Our goal was to walk to our favorite chunk of granite on the shoreline of the Androscoggin River. As you can see, the colors were stunning and my two guys were handsome as could be!

We stopped at a nice bench to rest our legs for a few minutes before heading back.

Whereupon Toby and Drew went walkin' down the line!

And, here is a portrait of our super sweet, big yellow dog! He had a blast and was a very happy pup;-)

Colorful autumn and handsome Toby!

Oh my, oh my...the autumn colors are absolutely stunning this year!
And, so is our big, handsome boy, Toby! 
Here he is on a walk down Starbird Corner Road. 

And, here he is waiting patiently (more like stubbornly) for a biscuit! 
Gotta have a biscuit every 10 feet or so to keep his energy up;-)

Toby also likes walking around Hillside Park, in Topsham. 
He was a perfect model to show off the gorgeous sumac in full color.

Then, he and Drew went down to Riverside Park (across the street), and Toby put on the brakes just a short way down the trail. 

So, no photos of Toby, just that of the gorgeous trees along the trail;-)

Drew's Little Helper

Toby is Drew's little helper when it comes to lawn care. He loves cool autumn days when he can beeline it to a pile of leaves in the backyard.

Those leaves are all his. Drew keeps adding to the pile as Toby snuggles in.

The more leaves, the better as Toby sinks lower...

and lower...

and even lower...

until...he can barely be seen!

And, then he falls asleep under the warmth of the leafy blanket.

Autumn Pups on the Papermill Trail

We love the Papermill Trail, and it is especially pretty during autumn. The sky was dark, the air was cold, and there were very few people on the trail.

Lady Flame patiently waits while Toby gets his umpteenth treat.

Both pups pose nicely on the boulder next to the trail.

Then, we walked over to the chunk of granite next to the river. I couldn't get the pups to look at me for anything. Actually, they were focused on Drew thinking that they would get yet another biscuit!

Flame is good a posing and she will not move when the leash drags on the ground. Although, she continued to avoid looking at me;-)

Toby's GQ Photo on the Androscoggin River Bank

(Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Toby said that it wasn't fair that Lady Flame should have all the glamour! So, back to the river we went for another quick photoshoot. Toby went leash-free this time. Drew was nearby in case Toby started to walk forward.

We have decided that we'll have to do this in the mid-morning next year to get optimum light. 

Lady Flame on the Androscoggin River

Lady Flame on the bank of the Androscoggin River

(Click on the photo for a larger view...go on...she is gorgeous!)

Papermill Trail Walk to capture autumn colors

(Click on any photo for a larger view.)

We took another walk down Papermill Trail to try and capture some stunning autumn colors. There was the threat of rainfall, so our walk was cut short. And, the dark sky, along with the lateness of the day, made it difficult to capture nice, clean shots. I had hoped to get photos worthy of a calendar, but was not very successful. The photos are incredibly grainy as I had to shoot at a minimum of ISO 500, and then had to pump the ISO up to 1000.

The pups did sort of pose on the rock for me. Lady Flame has learned to avert her head while I photograph her (thanks to Bettina, for teaching Flame this trick to frustrate any well meaning photographer;-) 

Drew took the pups to the edge of water. What a beautiful backdrop!

Toby is incredibly photogenic. He is our star model for autumn.

See what I mean about Lady Flame avoiding the camera? She is such a spoil sport. Getting long schnoz shots is always fun! At least Toby can't see me, so he cooperates just fine, thank you very much;-)

But, Drew did catch Flame unaware for a microsecond!

Why the long face, Toby? Is it time to go home? Our biggie boy is so expressive.

Back home we go! We ended up getting a bit damp on the way back, but had a great time. The dogs were so pooped after having been on two walks today;-)

Starbird Trail Walk

Drew and the pups went for a nice, long walk on Starbird Trail this morning. Due to the cloudiness of the day, the autumn colors were very rich.

And, the pups were really into walking. The leaves were falling, the trail was relatively dry, and the air was cool and damp.

The trail wound around under thick and thin canopies of a wide variety of trees, which lead to an air of mystery as to what stunning scenes would appear over the next hill or turn.

Lady Flame posed amidst the brilliant colors of the understory.

Someone did a bit of rough rock balancing on a stone wall the lined the trail. It's not pretty, but it did add a bit of interesting texture to the wall.

They passed some rather sluggish bumblebees who were congregated on several flower stems. Drew said that Toby's leash brushed across the stems, and the bees were not disturbed in the least.

The trail lead on and they all enjoyed over an hour's worth of walking and sniffing until it was time to drive home.

And, the roadway was as colorful as the forest, with rich yellows and reds as far as the eye could see.

This season is way too fleeting, and it's too bad that our fur kids don't appreciate the views as much as we do.

Papermill Trail

The trail is beginning to get colorful!

Wowee, it is one cool and blustery day outside (the temp. is in the mid-50s with a 14 mph wind.) We decided to celebrate Columbus Day by going for a walk along the Papermill Trail. There were lots of other like-minded people out there with us, and the trail was one busy place;-)

We were pleased to see some nice color along the trail.

The riverbank has a ways to go before peak color occurs, but there were some patches of brilliance. I peaked over this boulder to see some colorful trees across the Androscoggin River.

It was certainly a challenge photographing Drew and the hounds, due to the harshness of the light and uneven shady spots all along the trail. 

Purty Lady Flame

But, at least it was colorful. We'll try again later in the week and hope for a cloudy day with more even lighting;-)