分类必应美图下的文章

Fort Rock Valley Historical Homestead博物馆，俄勒冈 Fort Rock Valley Historical Homestead Museum, Oregon (© Prisma by Dukas Presseagentur GmbH/Alamy)

A night on the (ghost) town

The spooky scene here might look like someplace you'd want to avoid, but it's not likely to scare you—not too much anyway. It's the Fort Rock Valley Historical Homestead Museum in central Oregon—a collection of abandoned homestead-era buildings from the area. In the late 19th and early 20th century, people acquired federal lands around here for farms and ranches via the Homestead Acts. But most left within a few years due to the hot, dry summers and extremely cold winters. Today, the buildings are assembled as a ghost town and contain items from that period, including furniture, dishes, and tools. There's also a nearby cemetery which, according to local lore, is haunted by the ghost of rancher and author Reub Long riding his horse.

You can find ghost towns scattered around the country, the dilapidated remains of towns whose populations grew quickly and then dwindled. Many of them, like Rhyolite, Nevada, and Bodie, California, were gold (or silver or coal) mining towns that declined once the profits dried up. Others, like Cahawba, Alabama, died due to floods or other natural disasters. They may not all be haunted, but they sure can give off a spooky vibe.

Devotees light oil lamps on the banks of the Sarayu River in Ayodhya, India (© Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

A festival of lights in India

In observance of the Hindu holiday called Diwali, people gathered on the banks of the Sarayu River in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya in autumn of 2018 to light candles and oil lamps called 'diyas.' Attendees that night set a Guinness World Record by keeping 300,000 diyas lit for five minutes. The lights are symbolic of the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness—central themes of Diwali. Ayodhya is a significant location in the Hindu faith, long thought to be the birthplace of Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, who represents virtue. And as Diwali, a four- or five-day celebration that reaches its peak today (the third day), the Hindus of Ayodhya will be back to light up the riverbank. Will they set another record?

欧罗巴山国家公园中的Naranjo de Bulnes峰，西班牙阿斯图里亚斯 (© Anton Petrus/Getty Images)

Klaus Littmann's 'FOR FOREST: The Unending Attraction of Nature' in Wörthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, Austria ('FOR FOREST' by Klaus Littmann)

'FOR FOREST' by Klaus Littmann

When artist Klaus Littmann covered the pitch of this Austrian soccer stadium with 300 trees, he not only created the country's largest public art installation—he brought to life a vision of a dystopian future. The installation here at Wörthersee Stadium in the city of Klagenfurt made headlines around the world when it was unveiled on September 8, 2019. Titled 'FOR FOREST: The Unending Attraction of Nature,' it's inspired by a nearly identical pencil drawing created in 1970 by Max Peintner, an artist known in the European environmental movement. Littmann first saw the drawing 30 years ago and held onto his dream of turning it into a reality for decades. Through his work, he hopes to spark conversation about climate change, perception, and the relationship between nature and people. If you'd like to see it in person, you'll have to hurry. It closes tomorrow, October 27, at 10 pm.

新罕布什尔州的县桥 County Bridge in New Hampshire (© Denis Tangney Jr/E+/Getty Images)

Bridge of Hillsborough County

The County Bridge has offered a picturesque passage over the Contoocook River in southern New Hampshire since 1937, when it replaced its covered predecessor that had been destroyed in a flood. But why even build a covered bridge? In a word, longevity. The roof and walls help protect the timber supports from rot. For comparison, an uncovered wooden bridge lasts an average of 20 years, while the covered variety can reach 100 years or more.

But even their durable reputation couldn't withstand our drive toward faster travel—the railroad, the automobile, and the heavier loads that came with both. As iron and then steel replaced timber as the bridge-building material of choice, covered bridges gradually went the way of the horse and buggy that used to traverse them. Out of about 12,000 covered bridges that were built in the US, only 750 remain today, with a quarter of those in Pennsylvania.

亚士顿森林薄雾日出，英国东萨塞克斯郡 (© Tim Stocker Photography/Getty Images)

半月湾南瓜地鸟瞰图，加利福尼亚 Aerial view of a pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay, California (© Tinker Street/Michael O'Neal/Gallery Stock)

The height of pumpkin season

If you happen to be in the Bay Area this weekend, you might want to swing by the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival. The annual event displays enormous champion pumpkins weighing over a thousand pounds, hosts live pumpkin carving demonstrations, and offers really every kind of pumpkin-related food you can imagine, from pies to pumpkin flavored artisanal cocktails. Plus, Gourdy, the anthropomorphized pumpkin mascot. While California is the leader in the consumer pumpkin harvest, it is only the second-largest producer in the country. Illinois grows approximately a quarter of the 2 billion pounds of pumpkins the US produces yearly, though 80 percent of that ends up as pie filling or other processed products. Pumpkins require between 90-120 days to mature, so most are planted by late May or early June to coincide with our Halloween carving needs.

While carving vegetables into faces is a tradition in many parts of the world, the carving of jack-o’-lanterns around Halloween originated in Ireland in the mid-19th century, using potatoes or turnips. Irish immigrants brought the tradition to the US around the same time and discovered that the native pumpkins were much easier to carve.

Fall color sweeps across the West

The leaves are changing across the West, and few views are more striking than this one of the fall foliage in the Uncompahgre Forest in the shadow of Chimney Rock. The spire and its neighbor Courthouse Mountain dominate the landscape here year-round, but the changing colors make this area—and drives along the nearby Million Dollar Highway—even more scenic in the fall.

The forest gets its name from the Native Americans who have historically lived here, a band of Ute Native Americans called the Uncompahgre Ute People. The Ute People came to what is now Colorado and Utah around 1300, and usually spent their autumns traveling to make offerings to the spirits and hunting buffalo. And, we presume, admiring the spectacular fall colors.

阿卡迪亚国家公园的高丛蓝莓植物，缅因州 Highbush blueberry plants in Acadia National Park, Maine (© Danita Delimont/Gallo Images/Getty Images Plus)

Acadia transformed

Historically, mid-October is peak fall foliage season in Maine's Acadia National Park. The forest canopy is aflame with autumn color, and here, the highbush blueberries on the forest floor provide an additional splash of color. Acadia has six marked coastal trails, and our photo today was taken on one of the most popular: Wonderland Trail. It's just 1.4 miles round-trip, an easy trek for families and casual hikers. Acadia is Maine's only national park, and it's easy to see why this landscape was preserved—look at that beautiful fall color, and that's just at ground level.

Canada gives thanks // Canadian Thanksgiving

We're looking at a fall sunrise in Alberta, Canada, in honor (or should we say 'honour’) of Canadian Thanksgiving. The holiday is officially celebrated on the second Monday in October, though many families gather the previous day. The first known Thanksgiving celebration in Canada was organized by English explorer Martin Frobisher in 1578 when he reached Newfoundland. Years later, American loyalists who were faithful to England during the Revolutionary War moved to Canada and brought traditions with them, such as eating turkey on Thanksgiving. A Canadian Thanksgiving table is also likely to have a cornucopia, a ram's horn (or horn-shaped basket) filled with festive-looking fruits and grains. Regional dishes might also include salmon and Nanaimo bars—a layered chocolate dessert.

Until this year, football was also part of the tradition, with the Canadian Football League hosting games every year from 1958 to 2018. For the 2019 season, however, no games were scheduled as the league considers some broader scheduling changes.

星空迷