Local Color Of Autumn Trees

When the temperatures cool down, as the geese take flight for destinations south and football starts up in earnest, I’m used to keeping an eye open to drink in the most amazing of God’s transitions.  Just before winter set in with a vengeance in the Midwest all of us would look forward to the free show with every seat offering an outstanding view.

Every landscape in my last decade of life transformed before our very eyes.  Slowly at first.  One tree would blush.

The greenery that gave shade all summer was starting to change.  Wind breezes would rustle the leaves with a new sound.  It was drier.  The life of the tree was getting ready for the cold of winter.  These sentinels of the regions flora were starting to hibernate.

Before their life is hidden too quickly, they wave good-bye with stunning effect.  God takes His palate of bright autumn colors and splashes them all over creation.  Landscapes of rolling hills light up as if someone plugged in the woods to a huge outlet and drained the local utility district of all of its electrical reserves.
Each day as I made my commute, I would take in the display.  Once in a while, I would pull off the road, then I would breath in slowly and exhale with satisfaction.  Autumn trees decked with their orange, red and yellow coats are striking.

One trees contrast its aura with those around them.  A few evergreens remain steady.  Yet, they too offer that striking contrast that fills every eye that takes the time to pause, the fullness of the cycle of the seasons.
A quick walk through the fields filled with fallen leaves was fun.  Kicking up loads of leaves, hearing the sounds of these piles sifting through heavy morning air and scanning them as they fluttered back to the ground is a part of the Fall season.  I miss the sights and sounds of Autumn filled with changing trees.

Now, on the Pacific coast, I don’t see much of this magic.  The trees here stay green.  But, then again, I did see a bush the other day.  It was kinda changing color.  It may just have been the light hitting it.  A shadow sometimes looks like a color change, doesn’t it?

Someone got it wrong.  I drove a hundred miles north.  Then, I got sleepy!  I had to turn around and head back home.  There were so many trees that were still green that we got excited when we saw just a small clump of Autumn trees standing out in their transition foilage.

It’s humorous to drive for miles and get excited about three trees that are turning color.  Most of the foilage is still green.  The oak trees are all brown.  There was no stunning rainbow of colors decking the flora of the North.