Fall Leaves Leaving

Photo by Dale Forrest, available at Hands Gallery.

I woke this morning to 25 degrees and our first heavy frost. Windshield-scraping frost. As the sun came over the mountain and hit the trees, any leaves left on them released their hold and came down like rain. Especially the walnuts and maples. It always seems a little sad to me. In the Spring I excitedly watch the lovely green spread up the hills as each day passes. They hang on tightly through rain, thunderstorms and wind all through the summer and protect my little house from the eyes of my one visible neighbor like a cocoon. They desperately hold on to their colors for a few weeks in October, then comes a morning like today. Now it's bare trees until late April and I'll need to close my blinds at night so I don't feel like I'm in a fish bowl.