This Time I was Paying Attention

It happens to me every year.

I think "Wow!".

Then I think, "Whoa! When did this happen?"

Once again I am caught by surprise, I think, "I must not have be paying very close attention."

The sunlight comes later in the day and I inevitably back out my garage on a November morning, or maybe some years it was October - but like I said, maybe I wasn't paying very close attention; anyway, I begin to drive down the neighborhood streets and I can't help but notice that the trees I see are adorned brighter than Solomon in all of his glory.  Against the blue sky are bright golds, reds, rusts, plum, yellows, purple, and some interspersed greens.  I always think, "Now when this this change happen?"  I could swear by the hair on my chinny chin-chin that they were all green the last time I looked.  Dang! This botanical changed sneaked up on me again.

Years ago I caught the Tooth Fairy bringing in a dime as she collected my tooth, and about the same time I realized that those were not reindeer hoofs on the roof, but actually the noise was just the furnace coming on.  But Jack Frost has been elusive. Ah, but this year, Old Mark was going to sleep with one eye open and I would document the very night that Ol' Jack Frost, the Fairy Foliage King, went to work with his autumnal palette.  Indeed, it all changed suddenly on November 5th.

This year as the light came late to the day, I backed out of my garage at the start of a rather humid day to discover than what was green is now red, what was flower was now seed and what was Summer was now Fall, what was Monday November 4 was now Tuesday, November 5.  And everything was different (except those thing that weren't).

So Sunday, November 10, I say lets go take a late afternoon stroll through the Spring Creek woodlands and see what the colors look like.  It was a good stroll along the limestone banks of Spring Creek, under oaks, pecans and other rooted residents of the blackland prairie.  I thought you might like to come along with us.  Follow me.

Sue leads into the Holy of Hollies
(and oak, pecan, ash and elm)

As I approached the Burning Bush - The Voice said:

"Remove your shoes for you are on holy ground".

But I said, Mr. Bush, "If I go barefoot, I might step on a sticker".

And The Voice said unto me. "OK. If you want to be a weenie,
go ahead and keep your shoes on".

I said, "Thanks Mr. Bush".

The Voice said, "Enjoy the journey!"

And I lifted my eyes to the heavens,

And behold, it was if the rim of the sky had ignited

The Juniper berries are abundant this year.

We pick a few and crush them between our fingers and

then hold our fingers under one another's nose

and pretend we have been stirring martinis

With the scent of gin on our fingertips
from the Juniper berry,
this Bond Girl explains,
she prefers her martini "shaken, not stirred".

The world has gone to pod and seed

The land has gone to seed and pod

We cross paths with a coyote fording the creek

With a hemi-moon rising in the east
and the shadows growing deep
we take the path back to our home