While we were away this weekend, we had a chance to see the color change on the trees between north central Indiana and suburban Chicago. Color in Indiana was spectacular. Reds, golds, bronze, purple, brown and green were blended together in a glorious display. As we traveled north into Illinois we saw a lot of brown, dull, drab trees, and I thought we had missed the color change in Illinois. The crops were stunted. Some were being harvested, but you could tell the drought has hurt the crops seriously. We saw fields of beans and corn that looked as though they had simply died, rather than drying in preparation for harvest.
\nAs we got closer to the suburbs, we began to see a little more color, and by the time we got to our own town, the red was in full flame, and you could tell we hadn’t missed the color change. Our lawn has several huge circles of gold, and a few smaller circles of red, where trees have dropped their leaves, but there are still trees in the parkway that have their leaves.
\nI meant to blog about the black walnut trees. I don’t think I said anything about them. They are the very last trees to get their leaves in the spring. They are the first trees to change color, in late summer, and they are the first trees to loose their leaves. As I look out my kitchen windows, I see strong trunks, and branches that are bare, and stark against the sky. It amazes me that the squirrels get such a harvest of nuts from a tree that has such a short season. I’ll chuckle all winter, as I find places where the nuts have been stashed.
\nFall is a fabulous time of year. It might be my favorite time of year, since we celebrate so many birthdays, but the trees alone make it spectacular!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While we were away this weekend, we had a chance to see the color change on the trees between north central Indiana and suburban Chicago. Color in Indiana was spectacular. Reds, golds, bronze, purple, brown and green were blended together … Continue reading