Sweet gum tree

A glorious Fall day today - wall-to-wall blue skies and sunshine and temperatures around 70! Definitely a day for walking outside and enjoying the glory of the season. So after knitting ministry at church, I drove down to Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum and went for a long walk. It's a beautiful place in any season, but if I had to pick one, it would be Fall, and with the sunshine and blue skies, it was just glorious! I had a number of pictures to choose from, but finally chose the leaves and seed pods of the Sweetgum tree. Native to warm temperate areas of eastern North America and tropical montain regions of Mexico and Central America, it is recognized by the combination of its five-pointed star-shaped leaves and its hard, spiked fruits. Sweetgum is one of the most common hardwoods in the eastern United States, where it occurs naturally at low to moderate altitudes from southwestern Connecticut south to central Florida, and west to Illinois, southern Missouri, and eastern Texas. The tree's genus name Liquidambar is described as "a mongrel name, from the Latin liquidus, fluid, and the Arabic ambar, amber, in allusion to the fragrant terebinthine juice or gum which exudes from the tree. The wood is used as flooring, furniture, veneers, home interiors, and other lumber applications. It is also used as paper pulp and to make baskets. Pioneers once peeled the bark and scraped the resin-like solid to produce chewing gum. (Wikipedia).
For more pictures from my walk, please check out my Smugmug gallery.

This evening we were back at church for one of the church's Speaker series meetings. This evening's speaker was Steven M. Newman, known as the "Worldwalker." From April 1, 1983, to April 1, 1987, the freelance journalist walked solo around the world, trekking 15,509 miles across 21 nations on five continents. For his unique achievement, he was featured in the 1988 Guinness Book of Records. Throughout this time, he shared his adventures with over one million newspaper readers. Since his walk around the world, he has walked solo the entire lengths of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. In the 20+ years since the end of his trek, Newman has remained very busy as an author, a public speaker and motivator, an adjunct professor of Sociology and Cultural Geography, and a consultant to two Japanese companies that market Worldwalker shoes and clothing. He was fascinating and inspiring to listen to.

One year ago: Shades State Park