Falling Fast

Our neighbour's tree, which towers above our shared front lawn, is close to bare.

Typically, this honey locust changes from a bright green to a rustic yellow over the first month of autumn, and over the fall season, until the first full snow, the small leaves drop and are carried down the street by the October and November winds.

That didn't happen this year.

Instead, half of the leaves seemed to turn yellow overnight, and within less than a week, almost all of them have left the tree, fully covering our lawn and blanketing our car in the driveway. To see our walkway, I had to sweep it, providing me with a preview of having to break out my winter shovel.

Saturday's rain. By Sunday, most of the leaves had left the tree.

Indeed, it seems that this past weekend, with the heavy rain and light but steady breezes, the leaves are leaving trees much more quickly than usual. And last week, with the above-average temperatures, and this weekend's sudden drop to just-below-normal temperatures has caused the trees to explode in a flash of colour.

Fall seems to be suddenly accelerated and I'm not seeing as many colourful leaves on the trees as on the ground.

Autumn is my favourite time of year and I usually grab my cameras and head out into nature, but I've done so little so far. And I fear that by the time I am able to get out, the leaves will be gone.

I have stopped, once, on one of my bike rides to capture the leaves on the trees. Last Thursday, as I cycled from North Gower toward Richmond, on Fourth Line Road, I was drawn to a green pasture with a colorfully treed background. In the foreground, cows were grazing and standing around.

It was my first autumnal photograph of the season.

During this weekends downpours, we lucked out with a brief window of light, just before sunset, and I happened to have my D-SLR handy. There weren't many leaves left on the trees around me, as DW and I were visiting our friend, near Plantagenet, but I managed to snap a couple of fiery shots. (I haven't pulled those photos from my camera, yet. Stay tuned.)

I don't know that I'll be able to capture many more photos of colourful trees, but I'll try sometime this week.

Autumn seems to be falling fast, taking the leaves with it. I just hope it doesn't mean that the snow is coming sooner.