The fall of Fall in North Carolina

 

It always starts off with bold and vigorous color and each week thereafter it diminishes in splendor and vitality until at last , as the end nears, the cupboards grow empty and the single spectacles become cherished for their scarcity.

It is a unique and wonderful time of year, the tall oaks, maples, sweet gums, river birches, tulip poplars, hickory, walnut and countless more deciduous trees drop their massive amount of nuts and balls and finally their enormous amount of leaves to cover the forest floor and your neighborhood if they haven't been removed. Trees 50-100+ feet tall have a lot of leaves to turn and drop as the temps drop and the wind gust increase. A late Fall storm with gusty rain and winds will virtually denude a tree within a couple of days. Most are like us though, they are given time to age and slowly turn loose when the time is right.

The summer canopy is gone, removed if you will, so the slanting winter sun can find its way in to warm the earth and all that is within. We are left with fond memories of a wondrous season and the fond anticipation of its return as it always does, next year.

Spring is sprung, Fall is fell,

and now we await the wintry gale.