The Week that Was

And then the leaves were gone

The lone tree on the hill was glorious last year but this year it seemed to suffer from the drought. By itself on the hill you could see so clearly that its leaves were smaller and its foliage less dense. The monsoon rains came in September in earnest and while they were nice in the amount they were late. Late for almost everything important like trees and deer. First year I saw fawns with spots in October. Almost as if the does had waited and rushed to reproduce when it will be too late for their offspring to survive the winter. Maybe even the fall.

It has been a rough fall. Temperatures have been lower than usual and the golden trees few and sometimes far between. Like the lone tree on the hill few reached peak color before dropping all their leaves. Summer came late and left early. Fall just could not seem to make up its mind.

Grove of gold

I was surprised last week to find this grove of aspen in glorious color. They had stayed greenish for too long. Not that intense almost spring green they turn just before gold but a sort of muddy gold that led me to believe they would just fall to the ground and turn brown.

Leaves on the ground

Last year every leave on the ground was gold or orange and this year they are just less green. Seems an analogy for the summer. Just less. Less rain, less days between major frosts, less balmy days to enjoy, virtually no Indian Summer. And then it is over leaving us all to wonder what will winter be like?

And then they are gone

Even the computer models doe not seem to agree but then they all rely on past weather which in this era of climate change is a flawed model. I have talked to my firewood provider and he was to deliver me two cords this week but it rained so he is late. Seems to fit so I am not in a panic. Life just seems to be like that lately.