dragonfly shadow
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge: Fade to Brown and Gray

autumn drive

Last week’s 30-minute drive to Home Depot provided spectacular views from our rural highway.

All the Leaves are Brown…

By this weekend, most of our autumn leaves will have fallen.

Damp leaf carpet

“It looked like the world was covered in a cobbler crust of brown sugar and cinnamon.” – Sarah Addison Allen

scarlet Oak
Brown Leaves of Scarlet Oak
brown maple leaves
autumn leaves
These brown leaves were on the move as they fell to join their brilliant leafy cousins.

And then Brodie had to get into the action.

dog and fallen leaves

“Autumn whispered to the wind, ‘I fall but always rise again’.” ~ Angie Weiland-Crosby

All the Dogs are Brown…

Except for my Step-son’s gray dog, Chance.

gray dog
Chance the Great Dane
2 brown dogs
Baby Brodie and Aero in 2016

** Chance, Gideon, and Aero currently enjoy their lives in Heaven.**

white and brown dogs
Brothers Gideon and Aero in 2017

“Come back. Even as a shadow, even as a dream.” ― Euripides

dragonfly shadow
Dying Dragonfly perched in our travel trailer

Now to Add a Little Gray…with Some Movement

“Gray is the queen of colors because she makes everyone else look good.” – Helen Van Wyk

I visited Morro Bay in Central California when I helped my daughter move to the area in 2017. After unloading the U-Haul, we drove over to Morro Rock and enjoyed the new-to-me scenery.

Morro Rock at Morrow Bay
Gray and Brown tones of Central California’s Morro Rock

Regular readers are familiar with my long association with weekend camping at the Sacramento Delta to scratch the itch of our windsports hobby. We encountered a foggy day on one of our trips there, near Rio Vista.

FLoating Dock Reflections
“Floating” dock on the Sacramento River

If you’re like me, when you fly, you might be fascinated by the landscape from 10,000 feet up! From Northern California, seeing Yosemite Valley and the Eastern Sierra Nevada during winter from the aircraft window was a thrill. You can just make out El Capitan and Half Dome in the bottom right of the photo, enhanced by long shadows.

Yosemite Valley from 10K
Yosemite Valley from 10,000 feet above

“The higher we soar the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Sharing for Becky B’s November Shadows, Dawn’s Festival of Leaves, Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday, and Lens-Artists: On the Move.

brown swatch

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently from mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link to a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

If you are participating in the photo challenge, I look forward to seeing how you interpret this week’s color challenge theme of brown and gray! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week as we explore the theme “All things bright and beautiful.”

graphic

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113 comments

  1. Hi Terri, You photographs are magical. The pictures of the brown leaves go perfectly with Sarah’s quote…it does look like the world does look like it’s covered in a cobbler crust of brown sugar and cinnamon. All those brown dogs look like they’ve dipped themselves in brown sugar, too. I especially love the photograph of the dying dragon fly.
    Here’s mine https://smithavpennings.com/2025/11/27/terris-sunday-stills-tanka-tuesdaythankful-thursday-27-11-25/

    Liked by 1 person

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  8. Wow, girlfriend your stats must be blowing up. I can hardly get to the bottom of these comments. My heart skipped a beat when I read Morro Bay, then I saw the numbers 2017 and it settled down again. We were just at the coast for my BD, but we didn’t make it to Morro Bay. I miss having my motor home so we could just drive over there in a heartbeat and take the dog for a day or two or a week. Your Yosemite Valley pictures, and, of course, the fur babies, and the colorful leaves. You’ve wrapped it all in a gorgeous package. Hope you are having a great week. Lots of love xxx

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    • Thank you, Marsha! My posts are being visited by AI bots from China which bloated my stats…but color challenges always seem to get many comments, which i love!

      I’ve only been to Morro Bay the one time. I love Cal’s central coast, we should have visited more often. Enjoying a quiet week in the fog, we’ll chat soon.

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      • Mark and I used to go to Morro Bay at least once a month for years. It was our go-to spot. We parked our motor home on the Embarcadaro when they had an RV park there. After he died, that was the place I had my big fiasco. I never went back, and if I had, I think they would have turned me away. The closed the RV park shortly after that.

        Liked by 1 person

  14. Terri,

    Wonderful pictures in this post! The Maple and the Oak leaves with water droplets are works of art for a photographer. The colorful leaves beneath Brodie are gorgeous. Also, I’m curious–how do you produce the cartoon of yourself at the end of each post?

    My contribution is a picture taken when we spent a week at Morro Bay a few years ago. Have a great week, and please stay in touch. Joe

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    • Thank you, Joe! That area is nice to visit. That’s a great shot of the Rock from road if I remember correctly.
      Autumn put on a fabulous show this year.
      So the cartoon is a bitmoji (avatar) you can make of yourself. You can choose any look, etc. Then I use PicMonkey to complete the graphic part.

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  15. Dear friend, it’s truly heart‑warming to hear that the blend of earthy tones, memories, and a touch of whimsy resonated with you. I’m glad the little snapshots and quotes could capture the gentle rhythm of autumn and bring a little extra light into your day. Your kindness adds another layer of beauty to the whole experience, thank you for sharing that with us!

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  18. I love the Sarah Addison Allen quote about brown sugar and cinnamon, Terri. I’m hooked on cinnamon twists at the moment. They’re new and out for Christmas. I can’t get enough of them.

    Brown and grey – two colours many of us avoid, but autumn browns can be spectacular. Such a shame those leaves could not hang on a little longer before joining the rest on the ground.

    Lovely seeing the dog photos. What great fun dogs (and some humans) can have in piles of leaves.

    Yosemite Valley from 10,000 feet  – what a beautiful sight and great capture. Those snow-capped mountains make the coming season even more welcoming.

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  30. Morro Bay and Morro Rock are very picturesque in your photos Terri. We had 35 -40 mph wind gusts this afternoon. It was gusty weather this morning on my walk as well. I suspect after today most of the trees will be bare … the leaves were mostly brown, still wiggling on their stems at last look. I don’t care for November with its gray and gloomy skies and nearly bare trees, the prelude to Winter – ugh!

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      • Same here Terri. Yesterday we got to 68 degrees! I’m still trying to reach my goal, so I am hoping for no snow. 🙂 We are getting a “precip mix” on Tuesday, maybe freezing rain. We had that last week already – sigh.

        Liked by 1 person

  35. Nice color challenge. I especially liked the dogs. Of course. And the water droplets on the leaves…and for sure Yosemite from 10,000 feet! That’s amazing. I’ve only been there once, and would love to go again, we only had part of one day there, and I think there’s a whole lot more to see.

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  42. What a lovely reflection! Your pictures and words beautifully capture the quiet poetry of late autumn. The way you describe the changing leaves, the soft browns, and even the playful presence of Brodie brings the entire scene to life with charm and tenderness. Thank you for sharing these gentle moments of nature—your post is a reminder of how beauty lingers even as the season prepares to rest. 🍂🐾✨

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  44. Superb photos, Terri! I struggle to choose a favorite. Your brown leaves are magical, and the views of Morro Rock and the floating dock on the Sacramento River are spectacular and dreamlike. Thank you for the beautiful quotes.

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