"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking successive autumns." - George Eliot
As I mentioned on Facebook - I am annually surprised by the beauty of our Charlottesville autumns. Today began wet and gray, against which the fall colors seemed to stand out even more than usual. But then, about 30 minutes ago, the sun broke out from behind the clouds - its late afternoon slant bouncing light off all the crimsons, golds, burgundies and peach - making each tree luminous.
It is amazing how autumn seems to begin so slowly and then pick up speed. It's as if an artist had dipped his brush into his paints and and held it over each tree in turn, allowing the color to drip onto the leaves. Beginning at the tip top of the tree, the tint slowly spreading down to cover the entire tree in a riot of vibrant color.
I can hardly drive down the roads I am so distracted! Even the shopping centers seemed to have given thought to their fall color display when landscaping! Their entrances lined with bright red trees, and flame colored trees scattered about the parking lots.
Some folks think spring is the prettiest season. Spring is nice, with its dogwoods and redbuds; its tulips and daffodils, but I don't think it can beat autumn's total immersion of color. And, although autumn and the shedding trees are portends of a dying year, I never feel so alive as when the season comes full force and I wake up to a light frost, the anticipation of a day on Carter's Mountain sipping hot apple cider, and ripe pumpkins everywhere!
"Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter." – Carol Bishop Hipps
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