Fall

Today was really the first day of Fall we have had so far. It was a cool crisp and sunny day. The leaves were changing colors and the neighborhood was getting ready for Halloween.

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cool air, no humidity and still some sun. I really find this temperature comfortable. It was interesting yesterday as I noticed a few trees around me had started to change for the fall. "To put their fall dresses on" is what my grandmother called it. She was Pennsylvania Dutch and I know her favorite season was also the fall. The harvest of the summer and the getting ready for the winter.

The trees in my neighborhood were getting ready. You could see an almost all green tree with a spot of orange or a hint of yellow. One or two leaves on a branch and it's like a flag. I was noticing trees and then more and more colors and then it seemed by the end of the day even more. I felt like just in one day a difference was made.

There is the beauty of fall to be found.

The bright leaves - a rainbow of a fall palate - green, brown, gold, orange and red. They make the day pop with intensity. There are trees that look like they are on fire and sometimes while driving on a particular road the whole mountainside looks to be burning. I know they say you can predict the type of winter by the colors in the leaves. And also more scientifically you can determine whether there is too little of some chemical in the trees that year. But I like to just look, and see, and enjoy the colors.

Of course there is also the fun you can have with the leaves. Raking was never a favorite of mine, it seems like a waste when they would be good for the ground cover and snow would be coming soon. That sounds good anyway. The fun found in raking was to rake them and then just jump in or run thru or somehow mess it all up again! Leaves flying all over and getting in hair and shirts and shoes. To have a few minutes to be a kid and just soak up the simple pleasure. To make a mess and have it not really matter because either you can just leave it or you can rake it up and start over again. Have you ever made snow angels? I love to do that in the snow. I also love to make leaf angels. They don't come out as good and I think more leaves stick to me than the ground, but it is just another way to remember kidhood.

Fall brings on pumpkins and apples and cider and the search for the mittens. Yep. I like fall.

The photos are from the time when Jim and I were in Boston.