#1 Wild and Woolly

Fall is winding down. As I headed out today, I noticed the last of the pear trees, the final hold out around here, have shed almost all of their leaves. The pear tree has become my favorite since we moved here. Covered in white blossoms it is the one of the most showy trees in spring. In fall it holds on to its green leaves until the end, finally turning a bright burnished gold before letting them go.

This isn't a pear tree, but it has also become one of my favorites. I watch it outside my window for its signs. It is the first to get green in the spring, and the last to change in the fall. Often the gold leaves turn red, but this year they stayed gold. I took this picture about 5 days ago. Today the leaves are gone.
The chrysanthemums are hanging on, but most of the other flowers have withered in the first frost. The fields are wild and woolly. They aren't what one would normally describe as pretty, but to me they are.

It took me awhile to notice it, but last year I really did. The fields had grown up. The grasses had dried. The wildflowers had lost their colors and now wore hats of feathery white seed pods. The bloom of youth was gone. They had aged.

Just as a photographer can take a picture of an aged and wrinkled old person and you see the beauty within, the life that was lived, so the fields in late fall look beautiful to me. It does mean the fall season is nearing an end, but Thanksgiving is at hand! We'll be putting up Christmas decorations next weekend. It's time for change. Time to embrace the next season. And Seasons are one of the blessings of living north of the temperate zone.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!