The Foothills Are On Fire...

With the blaze of autumn. Driving down the road has become a dangerous endeavor; I am constantly distracted by all the beautiful trees, brilliant in their fall glory. The ginkgo has donned its signature yellow, the liquid amber is a show stopper in its various shades of red, and the Chinese pistache vies for attention in its rainbow of orange, red and burgundy. The trees appear to glow from sun up to sun down. They know they look good.

When I get home, having narrowly avoided collisions while gawking at the painted ladies lining the highways and byways, I sit in the car to catch my breath and admire the beauty I call my own. This is our tree. The first tree we planted. The tree in front of which we take pictures on the first day of school. The tree that's finally big enough to shade our tea parties. The tree that we're almost tall enough to climb and that is almost strong enough to support our weight. The tree we have watched grow from a gangly infant to a flamboyant teenager.

The tree that doesn't know whether it should wear brown or yellow when the weather turns cold,

or a perhaps a little of both,

or half and half.

The tree that sends out its seeds on angel wings. Perhaps the wind will blow them your way.

I can't help but bring a little taste of autumn indoors, though I try to spend as much time outside as possible this time of year.


This weekend I took my paper leaf wreath out of storage and hung it over the fireplace. I made this wreath two falls ago, using actual leaves for templates (oak, red oak and maple) and a few sheets of card stock and scrapbook paper. It has held up impressively well for paper, and cost a fraction of the price of the kit that inspired the idea (it was a lot of cutting though).

In honor of the trees, and because I can't stop thinking about them, I will be posting about trees all week. So all you tree lovers, stay tuned for some serious tree hugging over the next few days, and get outside if you can and enjoy autumn's show before the last leaf falls.