A gorgeous autumn

4 comments on A gorgeous autumn
2 minutes

I usually dread autumn. It’s not that autumn itself is a problem, but it means winter is coming, and I hate winter. Give me the freedom of shorts and T-shirts year round! But even I have to admit that we are having an unusually gorgeous autumn, and I’m actually enjoying it.

Autumn color in the neighborhood

A typical central-Indiana autumn sees haphazard color for a couple weeks, and just when it starts getting good the leaves turn brown en masse and fall. Humbug. But this year, the color is taking its time. The tops of many trees started to change first. Sunrise touching those treetops made them glow; it’s been hard to pay attention to the road when I drive to work. The color then crept along the branch tips, creating a yellow, orange, or red outer layer with a still-green core, as if the trees had been frosted. Most of those trees have changed color entirely now, but many of their neighbors are beginning to change color around the edges. How long can this show last?

Over the weekend I toured the neighborhood with my camera, trying to be artsy again but mostly failing. At least I captured some excellent color.

My neighbor has two maples at the edge of his front yard. One’s gone yellow and the other’s just starting.

Autumn color in the neighborhood

This is his yellow tree. It was late afternoon, and I liked how the sun was highlighting some leaves and hiding others in the shadows.

Autumn color in the neighborhood

A huge evergreen is at the center of another neighbor’s front yard; beyond it, the afternoon sun really made its neighboring trees pop.

Autumn color in the neighborhood

Here’s a good example of how the color makes its way down a tree’s edges. I want to keep checking every day to see how it’s progressed!

Autumn color in the neighborhood

This tree, out on the main road, was green on the inside a week ago. I watched it change from the outside in every day as I pulled out of my neighborhood on my way to work. Now it really commands attention.

Autumn color in the neighborhood

I saved my favorite tree in the neighborhood for last. Trite superlatives such as “fieriest glory” are all I can come up with to describe it, but it is late as I write this and I need to get to bed, so that’s what you get!

Autumn color in the neighborhood

I wrote more last year about how childhood memories shape how I feel about fall. Check it out.


Comments

4 responses to “A gorgeous autumn”

  1. David Avatar

    I had thought of doing something on this order. But I am so glad that someone with a great eye and photographic skills has done it for us. Thanks.

    1. Jim Avatar

      David, my photographic skills revolve mostly around luck, but thanks. But don’t let my post stop you from showing the world the colors where you are!

  2. Lone Primate Avatar

    It’s the time of the season… there, there’s today’s earworm. :) You got some good mixes going on in those shots — I agree, having the strong green in the middle does nicely set off the bracketing deciduous trees; that’s a good capture. :)

    Nice to see a tree in full red — I really have yet to see that this year. It looks like you’re having the same sort of reserved year in terms of colour in Indiana that we’re having in southern Ontario. Not really much in the way of strong, blast-off reds. They’re kind of muted.

    I was on the road with a friend heading north on day trip Saturday specifically to see what we could see in terms of the leaves. Can I share the leafy goodness with you and your correspondents in the form of a Flickr slide show? :) I’ll put the URL in the “website” field… I guess that means folks can see it if they click on the name link.

    1. Jim Avatar

      LP, you got some great panoramas there. The colors we’re seeing here are the best I can remember as long as I’ve lived in Indianapolis. Childhood autumns in northern Indiana were more typically like what we’re seeing here this year, or at least that’s how I remember it.

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