It's that time of year when the trees around are preparing for the dormancy of winter and shedding their leaves. But not without first putting on a spectacular show of color. I enjoy this change every year but am in special awe of it this year. I look around and can't believe how lucky I am to be able to experience the glorious show nature is putting on. Just like magic, there is an ever-changing beautiful scene to see. Every corny thing you can think of to describe the colors of the changing leaves I am thinking.
Fall has always been a special time. When we were kids, my sisters and I would walk around the neighborhood and collect colorful leaves. Then we'd take them home and dip them in hot wax to preserve them. That way, we could enjoy the color for months after the leaves outside were gone.
After I left college, I lived along the Gulf Coast, where there were not four distinct seasons, and I missed the fall colors. I had one friend whose mother would mail her a box of fall leaves every year as a reminder of home in the northeast. When I moved back north, and my friend was still in the south, I also mailed her leaves because her mother had since passed away.
Our tree, which turned a brilliant red in the fall, was lost in a storm last year. However, as I look out my windows, the neighbors' trees are more than making up for it. I am so lucky.
.JPG)
