Tag Leaves

Seeing Isn’t Believing

Michael Leave a comment
It’s been a busy past couple of weeks. What days haven’t been spent at doctor appointments have been spent at dialysis,  then last Friday I made an unplanned trip to the outpatient surgery unit to have my fistula opened. Something I’ve taken note of on all these trips is how the view has changed on the same roads since the beginning of this month.
 
Thanks to the miracle of arbochemistry, and my decision to take residence along the hills and mountains of Western Pennsylvania, I’ve been treated to the increasingly colorful forests that can be seen from almost any road between here and there in the area. 
20171022_175903
 
Of course you do know that those oranges and reds that we wait for each fall are always in the leaves. We can’t see them in July because there is so much chlorophyll in the leaves that only its green is visible. As the air cools and the light fades less chlorophyll is produced, the camouflage is lifted, and those vibrant fiery colors come out of hiding. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean those colors weren’t there last month. Don’t believe me? Ask your favorite tree.
 
Leaves aren’t there only things that hide all their colors. Across America Election Day is fast approaching. “Off year elections” it’s called. Some states are fortunate enough to have Governor or state house and row office elections this year. In a couple weeks here in Pennsylvania, like many states, all we will have to vote for are county, school district, and municipal offices. 
 
I haven’t seen one ad, recieved one post card, or heard one news story for any local office even though local government is the one that most closely touches people’s lives. But everywhere campaigning abounds. Just not for this year. There are all kinds of news about what’s coming up in a year and a couple weeks. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing though. As the campaign seasons change, support becomes cooler, and somebodies’ dreams fade, their veneer will be replaced by what was always there, just hidden from view by large quantities of camouflage. It could turn out to be quite fiery. How vibrant may be a different story.
.

Leafed by the Side of the Road

Michael 2 Comments

Yesterday, for the fourth time this month I took the little car out of the garage, dropped the top, donned a pair of polarizing sunglasses (one lens Democrat, the other Republican), grabbed the real camera, and set out in search of autumnal magic, fall leaves. And for the fourth time I was disappointed.

The first time, which happened to be the 1st, I wasn’t surprised that not many trees had shifted from their summery green foliage. On the second Sunday I saw some yellowing and was given hope that the following week would be more colorful. Last week’s attempt fell in the middle of what the TV weather forecasters predicted to be the peak for color. The only red I saw was the car’s paint job. (In fairness I should have expected no colored leaves since I was going on a weather person’s prediction. After all, these were the same people who brought us “partly cloudy.”)

But yesterday’s disappointment hit a little on the hard side. There’s only one Sunday left to October. If the foliage is still as dull then as it had been I fear I may not see another leaf as pretty as on a fall tree, given that my medical history and its corresponding future are as uncertain as weather forecasting. (My long range plan is to live to at least 100. I tell my daughter that every chance I get so she won’t get to thinking that she’ll be able to live into her golden years off her inheritance. Of course only I know it’s really because if I were to drop dead tomorrow she’d only be able to live comfortably until next Thursday, so my only chance of not disappointing her in that regard is to grow so old that she herself will be old enough that she forgets that she has anything coming to her.)

It’s been an exceptionally warm fall so far this year. If you are to believe the Farmer’s Almanac (and why shouldn’t you?) it will stay above average in temperature until the week before Thanksgiving, much too late for fall foliage festivities. I don’t know if it’s the extended warm weather causing the poor color spectacle. Those pesky weather people who two weeks ago said it wouldn’t are now saying it is. But then in the past, they have said disappointing color was because it got too cold too soon. Other years it was too dry. During still others, too much rain was the cause for a dull fall.

Leaves100909

Last good color I shot, October 2009

To be perfectly honest, I haven’t seen a really vibrant fall for some years now. I suppose the easy thing to blame it on would be climate change. That seems to be a good reason for just about anything we aren’t happy with climatically speaking. Which makes perfect sense since in the truest sense of it, any change in the air can be defined as climate change. Unfortunately we actually believe we can do something about it.

The hardest thing for us to accept is recognizing that yes, people do things that aren’t good for the environment but that the environment is going to change anyway. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t be respectful of the environment and do what is good and healthy for it and for us. It is to say though that eventually, the world’s history is going to catch up with it and there are going to be changes that we aren’t responsible for and that we can’t do anything about.

As hard as it is for us and our egos to accept, we aren’t in charge here. The world came before us and had its routine well established before we propelled our first ozones into the ozone. It’s been hot, it’s been cold, it was covered in ice and covered in water. We are here at its invitation and are welcomed to ride the rides while we are here but that’s as far as it is willing to go.

This year’s colors might not be to my liking and that’s going to have to be ok. Colorful or not, the leaves will drop, spring will be back and new ones will bud on the trees. Next fall I’ll again look forward to a day when I can aim my camera at the beauty of the fall foliage.

Until then, like yesterday, I’ll just enjoy the ride.

 

Past Peak? Not Yet!

Michael Leave a comment

Over the weekend, as it seems with most weekends, errands needed run.  Our corner of the world is where the weathermen show a map of fall colors and point out the “Past Peak” area.  It should have peaked here a month ago.  And a month ago it was pointed out on the map that we were at “Peak” here.  For most of the area, those maps were right.  But for the roads He needed to travel on Saturday they were quite wrong.

Saturday was a glorious day here.  Glorious for a day whose date begins with November.  The sun was out, the temperature was up, and the daily drizzle took a day off.  It was a good day to take care of some essentials and the lack of a chill in the air was a bonus, particularly for someone still doing that post-hospital recovery thing.

But the most striking thing was that there were still beautiful fall colors in the trees.  The errand route involved going downhill from a good, high vantage point, driving through a canopy-like tree covered road or two, and getting a parking space that did not face the store front but rather faced the hillside across the street from the lot.  All of those areas were festooned with fall foliage anything but past their peak.  Orange, yellow, and red leaves, and even a green one here and there, stubbornly hung on to their branches to extend the fall show for at least one more weekend’s performance.  It was enough to make one stop and look and enjoy knowing soon those characters will finally let go and the raking and clearing and mulching will continue.

Even knowing there is work ahead, the joy those trees dressed in their fall finest made the errand running a little easier and made coming back out of the stores something to look forward to.

It does make one wonder though, what do the people who live in areas without fall do for enjoyment.  Maybe that’s one reason that those of us who live in an area that someone would call “Past Peak” stick around.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?

 

Leaf Me Alone

Michael Leave a comment

“I remember raking leaves and then getting hot cocoa,” She of We said.  “I remember raking leaves and getting chest pains,” He of We countered.  They were discussing why leaf clearing had become such an ordeal around here.

Here is the Northeast where the fall foliage can be quite striking.  It is the thing that sometimes makes one yearn for days of real SLR cameras and big panoramic prints on the wall over the sofa stretching from end to end.  But as leaves turn color, so do they fall. 

He or We’s mini-estate holds 3 fifty-foot maples, a half-dozen somewhat larger oaks, a red-bud, a crab apple, a locust, and a couple of “just trees” on a space smaller than most fast food restaurants’ parking lots.  There are lots of leaves that fall into that tiny space.  But over the course of a few weeks they get raked or blown or sucked up into the lawn tractor’s grass catchers and tossed over the hill waiting to become the next generation’s compost.  She of We’s lands boast a similar variety of foliage droppers on another parking lot.  Her tree droppings are likewise dealt with and before the first snow falls to put the grass to bed, the grass is freed of the trees’ former dressings and able to breathe through the winter.

As Norman Rockwell like as we’d seem to be doing our job, we’ve noticed that for many, leaf-clearing is not the pleasant pastime it once was.  Just over the past few days we’ve seen neighbors blowing leaves into the streets we suppose in the hopes that the wind of the passing cars will pull the offensive vegetation to the corner where it will board the local bus into town and perhaps get lost and never find its way back.  We’ve also noticed another routinely blowing his leaves into the neighbor’s yard.  You almost could hear him thinking “they came off your trees, they’re your leaves!”

There was once a time when raking leaves into a big pile for the kids to jump into was a passing rite of fall.  Then we would drag them to the burn barrel (the leaves, not the kids) where the sweet smell of burning maple leaves would compete with the warming scent of that hot cocoa and maybe of a toasted marshmallow or a hot dog on a stick.  We remember those crisp autumn afternoons pulling the rakes through the yards, the bright sunshine never seen any other time of year dappling through the remains of the trees’ summer wear.  There may not be any cocoa each time some leaf clearing is done, and thanks to either asthmatic bleeding hearts or safety-conscious volunteer fire companies, leaf burning is a thing of the past.  Still, Both of We get our lawns free of the former colorful flora without much whining.

Now we wait for the news article about two neighbors coming to blows over one blowing his leaves into the other’s yard.  And there will be some story about someone receiving a ticket for raking debris into a city street in violation of some or another ordinance while the offender stands at the curb in front of the TV camera asking where he was supposed to rake them.  Somebody at work will question why he even bothered to plant any trees and will be looking up numbers for tree removal services so he won’t have to go through “that” any more. 

We don’t know.  The leaves aren’t that hard to deal with.  And after the whining we’ll have a glass of wine and a plate of fresh fruit and cheese.  Cocoa and marshmallows?  Next you’ll be expecting us to use the leaves to fill a plastic bag that looks like a pumpkin.  Sheesh!  Make that a bottle of wine.  Each.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?