Revealed Splendor.
As exciting and portentous as the first colors of spring, the early hues of fall are beginning to appear. Chlorophyll in the leaves of deciduous trees and shrubs is dwindling, unmasking the underlying accessory pigments that make up the crimsons, russets, goldens and purples that we love so much in autumn. The variety is staggering! Maple trees alone offer pallets of red, orange, mauve, brilliant yellow, golden, green-gold and some variegated with numerous colors. Huzzah, they’ve been there all along!
“Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay."
Robert Frost
The days shorten, the temperatures cool and I zip up my sweater while all the flora and fauna along the trail also prepare for what’s next. The spectacular liminal space between summer and winter offers a brief glimpse into the reality that underneath everything there is usually something else contributing to it.
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