Nature’s bounty
posted in Fun Stuff, Miscellaneous |One of the things about living in Small Mountain University Town was that we were surrounded mostly by evergreens (Ponderosa pines) and there were fewer deciduous trees (oaks and aspens). The aspens would put on a golden show in the autumn, but you had to drive to where there were lots of aspens to see the best show. The oaks–eh. The leaves would turn kind of muddy brown and drop off, and that was it.
So autumn wasn’t a visual stunner, like those of us who grew up in the midwest or east are accustomed to. The stunning you would get was the vibrant blue sky and the vivid white sun, which was, admittedly, a jazzy combination.
Now here we are in the Final Frontier, and encountering an entire new ecosystem. The majority of the trees, shrubs, bushes, and weeds here are decidedly deciduous. And they’re showy. Oh, oh, oh-so showy. Reds. Golds. Oranges. Greens with red spots. Burgundies. Yum. And we still have some yellows, but they are put to shame by all the rest.
We aren’t having a grand blast of everything turning at once–yet. But so far, we have lots of individual plants and trees turning color and dropping their leaves.
Many years ago, a cousin of mine took her 3-year-old daughter out one autumn to collect leaves. They took clear plastic contact paper, laid the leaves out on it, and then put another layer of clear plastic contact paper on top. GrannyJ still has the resultant banner hanging on the back of her office door.
Taking a tip from cuz J., I decided the dotter and I should collect some leaves and maybe make some placemats out of them.
So here are some autumn leaves:
Pixelating out, again, bah. But, nonetheless, maybe giving you an idea of just how varied and colorful things are getting. When we make the placemats, I will present a pic of one of them, too…
Thanks for joining me in a world-wide WOOT on word of our closing! As GrannyJ suggested, we are visiting the furniture and boxes now & then and petting things and crooning happily.
