The Glory of Fall – Revisited

I wrote a piece fourteen years ago, November 2007: The Glory of Fall.  It truly covers my love of the most special season and some of the memories of the glorious falls of the past.  When I looked up that post to review what I wrote, I was surprised that there were no photos of trees or landscapes with vibrant colors.  When I wrote that piece back then, I was not, as yet, using photos in every post.   But, dang, how could I write about the Glory of Fall and not have any photos of changing leaves?

I took a few photos today that could have been posted with that piece. 

I had some errands to run all in our town.  In between errands, I took a little drive to Lake Michigan to enjoy the fall views.  I saw two beautiful trees, one in orange and the other red.  I stopped to take photos of both.  It was a perfect diversion on a perfect fall morning.

A perfect fall morning indeed.  There is something about perfect weather in the Midwest.  Perfection may last a day or two or maybe only an hour or two. 

My next stop was to get a car wash.  On the way there, the radio informed me that in the early afternoon clouds would roll in and then it would rain the rest of today and tomorrow.  Well, there was no reason to get a car wash.  As I headed home, I thought about the old adage about weather:  If you don’t like the weather in [wherever you are], just wait a few minutes.  I think this might have originated with Mark Twain and he used New England for wherever he was at the time. 

There is another saying that I recently saw a few times on social media:

 

 

This change in weather, made my morning drive all the more memorable.  When I think of fall, it is moments just like in photos I captured, clear skies, golden sunshine illuminating the colors for everything, and the crisp cool fall scented air.  Fall is also about change.  It is a transitional season from summer to winter, from the bounty of harvest to the barren dormant landscape.  So, the transition of beautiful golden sunshine to a dank fall rain is consistent with the season and consistent with the place.

The moments I call glorious are all the more glorious because the moments are fleeting, they are not the norm.  That is the value of living in places where the seasons changes and the weather can change during the day.  I see the value of living someplace where the weather is always nice, but would I get complacent about it?  I would certainly miss the fall.  I am certain I would miss the winters as well.

I did not take photos of anything in the rain.  The rain muted all the colors.  Instead, I was quite productive this afternoon and evening.  I would stop short, however, of calling the rest of the day glorious.