Looking for Fall

The rain finally stopped, and just after noon the sun timidly peeked out from behind the lingering clouds. The wind is still gusting, but that seems normal for fall. I love fall--it may be my favorite season. I have wonderful memories of walking home from school shuffling through fallen leaves, of collecting bright leaves to press between sheets of waxed paper, of raking up huge piles of leaves and jumping in them.

This is my first fall in this part of New England, so I'm not sure what to expect. Not too many maple trees here so I know I won't get the wonderful reds of Vermont. We've had so much wind and rain that lots of leaves have fallen with not very much color at all. But when the sun peaks out at just the right angle I can see hints of gold and orange in the trees around the pond behind my house.

I've lived all up and down the east coast and I've learned that fall will come eventually, just about everywhere (on the east coast anyway)--you just have to know what to look for. And you have to be patient. In N. Florida the changes are subtle--less vibrant colors, things dying back and bit, and in late November, leaves falling--but more gradually rather than all of a sudden as they do farther north. And the live oaks--those majestic sprawling giants--they lose their leaves gradually over the winter so that they are never bare.

Vermont and Northern New England are the best though. No wonder leaf peepers come from all over. In early September there are hints of color, and then suddenly you wake up and the world is red and gold. There's a briskness in the air that holds the promise of apple picking and ripe pumpkins. The trucks that will eventually bear the plows don their bumper stickers that say "Let it snow". And even though it means getting ready to hunker down for a long winter it feels hopeful somehow.

I'll be ready for spring when March rolls around, but right now I'm looking for fall.