One of the things I like to do this time of year is take the kayak out onto the Charles River on a sunny day. Last weekend was cloudy and rainy, so this weekend, I was looking forward to taking the kayak out one day, and the bicycle out the other.

As it turned out the forecast was calling for Saturday to be a little cooler, but clearer, so I chose Saturday for the kayaking day.

I put in at Newton, across from Charles River Canoe and Kayak’s Historic Boathouse location, and paddled upstream. Although some high cirrus clouds were starting to impinge on the sky, for the most part, I had a blue sky.

As I paddled under the Mass Pike, I had a good view of the construction there. You could see the new eastbound span, already carrying traffic, and the old span had been demolished, with new piers under construction. Looking at the old piers, it was apparent why the replacement project was necessary.

I started taking pictures just before the railroad bridge. There was a big stand of brightly colored trees. As is my habit when shooting scenics, I usually like to shoot with a polarizer filter in place. There is a band in the sky where the light is more polarized, and using a polarizer filter will darken and intensify the blue in that part if the sky. The polarizer will also cut down on surface glare, so it intensifies colors that way. I tend to shoot polarized because I like the bright saturated colors.

An unfortunate effect of the polarizer is to shift yellows towards green, though. I don’t know if it’s particular to my filter, or all polarizers. It was apparent on the camera’s view screen as I was shooting, and it was visible when I first imported the pictures into Photos. so I’ve used the Selective Color tool in Photos to shift yellows back to a warmer yellow. The iPhone pictures, for the most part, don’t need this kind of adjustment.

Another difficulty with shooting on the river is that the darkness of the water tends to throw off the light meter, Saturday, I decided for a number of the shots to dial in an exposure compensation of -.3 to -.7ev, and that seemed to have worked out well

It was a leisurely trip up-river. The only time constraint was that I wanted to be back at the parking lot before it got cold. So I piddled my way upstream, stopping to take pictures where the spirit moved me. I went as far as the wooden footbridge at the Leo Martin Golf Course.

I have to say, while there were certainly a number of vibrant trees, there were also a number that weren’t. A lot of the trees along the river still haven’t turned yet.

There were a lot of geese on the river on Saturday, and at the end of the day, as I was loading the kayak back onto the car, a swan came over.

Today, I decided to go for a bicycle ride along the lower Charles in Cambridge and the Esplanade. It’s been a while since I’ve been on the bike, so I wanted the exercise, but I didn’t want to cough up a lung doing it, and the Boston route is easy; certainly easier than the Minuteman or the trails on the Cape. I also needed to get back at a reasonable hour in order to run some errands.

There was a noticeable difference in the sky today. Yesterday, it had been clear most of the day, up until the end of the day, when you could see a bank of clouds moving in. Today, there was a high thin overcast. Enough of the sun was able to penetrate it to illuminate the trees and highlight the foliage, but overhead, the sky was milky, rather than blue. It also seemed, as I was driving around, that more of the trees had changed.

We’re expecting a line of heavy rain and wind to come through tomorrow, it’ll be interesting to see how much of the foliage is still on the trees once it departs. There was much of it to enjoy this weekend.