Fall Begun

Autumn creeps in, particularly since Summer is loath to give up its blasts of heat. I was a bit busy to see the first signs, though I did spy a few sourwood trees turning deep red and sporting yellowish blooms atop their foliage. As I walked early last week I saw several Southern Magnolia trees with seed pods ripening.

The next day that I walked many seedpods were already bursting to reveal and shed their seeds.

Odd for this late were a couple of rose bushes in full bloom.

Suburban landscapes are largely planted, so Norwegian Spruces are not native nor uncommon, but the distant Maple tree is quite the contrast and harbinger of Autumn.

A Red Maple cultivar set me to once again musing about why and how trees change colors.

The bushes also suggest the interaction of sun and temperature. I had one man say he thinks that perhaps the rapidity of change in temperature may set it off. That idea is confirmed by a webpage that most succinctly and completely details the factors in fall colors. 

But the temperature factor does not easily explain what is frequently seen in Sugar Maples where random branches above and below, in sun and in shade, at any compass direction, turn before others. Perhaps the other factors like length of day and night, humidity and rainfall, and change and suddenness of change in temperature are trumped by age and health of individual branches (see webpage).

The difference in color of leaves on the same tree is also fascinating, pointing to seasonal or momentary differences in leaf chemistry and production. Yes, I did lay the leaves next to each other for the photo op, but they were only a few feet apart, lying under a lone tree.

On up the road I spied the distinctive pattern and fungus marked bark of a healthy White Oak tree.

The next picture bothers me. I even tried to correct the color from a dull orange to the deep red I saw on the Black Gum tree. Having never seen an orange, Black Gum tree, I was disappointed in the off color the camera perceived.

Some acorns fall with their cups still attached but most lose them when they fall from the cup onto the ground. The following examples are probably White Oak acorns due to the shape and color of the fruit and the scales of the cap. The Plantain and Dandelion in the grass supply a splash of green to complete the scene.

On my walks there is a widely grassed boulevard I follow or tranverse regularly. At one point along the median, there is a small bridge across a channelized creek. The minnows gather in a dense cluster at one algae-lined spot in the pool below. Always when I walk over the bridge, the fish do a quick scurry here and there for cover. I decided that I wanted to get a picture of the clump, so I ever so slowly crept onto the bridge and captured the fish lounging in the sun.

One evening I got home a bit earlier from work than usual. I asked my wife if she would like to take a short walk. When we got to the middle school stadium where we have thus far walked, there was some event going on. We decided to walk about in the historic downtown of our newly adopted hometown. One of the oldest structures there is the county records office built between 1792 and 1795. It later served as a residence for ministers of the Presbyterian Church located just behind and to the right of it. In the picture you can also see the "Cannonball House" to the left, so named because of cannonball damage sustained by Union artillery during a Civil War battle.

I don't know if this house is antebellum or not, but its style and the brick suggest so.

We are curious what these structures served as in days gone by. I guess we will have to play the tourists to find out.

And here is the Presbyterian Church glowing in the last splash of sunset.

The more recent courthouse is not new, but displays various monuments to past glories of the town and region. Curiously, this county seat is the only one in the state that is not incorporated as a town. I wonder how many of those there are in the U.S.? When you leave our house and go "out of town" you see a sign that says, "Entering Bristol City Limits." It is an oddly positioned sign.

I have these moments when I sincerely wish that I had a better camera. God's creation is so startlingly and sharply beautiful. The art of photography is to catch it looking its best.

This inn has sheltered several presidents* and other famous people. About this time, it occurred to me that the substance of history in the mind of those that view it is more about marketing and presentation than the significance of events and people involved in a place. A nearby town with different but similar significance in history is visited by far more people each year. It is more faithfully and fancily restored and sports an international event each year. Here sits this quaint little medallion of historical display largely ignored.

Well, I like quiet. We will not ignore it in the days to come. We will explore and explain what these buildings and this locale means. We are fast losing the freedoms our forefathers sought by coming to this wilderness. May God have mercy on us to once again seek the "ancient paths, where the good way is." (Jeremiah 6:16)

*not necessarily when they were in office