So far fall has been as strange as summer. On the day we left for Colorado, the high was 82 degrees. When we returned 10 days later, temperatures were struggling to get out of the 40s and it rained for 12 straight days.
October was so cold and gloomy that it felt like November. In fact I got over half of my Christmas shopping done because there was nothing better to do. I was hoping to clean up the garden, but I’ve decided to let it slide until next spring. The birds are doing some of the tidying for me. The dead flower seeds are being devoured by Juncos and White-throated Sparrows.
It wasn’t a good year for fall color either. Just as we were starting to see hints of bright red and blaze orange, the nighttime temperature dove into the lower 20s which caused “freezer burn” on many of the leaves. Some of them curled up and turned black, and many others just dropped off the trees with the first strong breeze. As a result, the maples just didn’t dazzle this year like they have in year’s past.
Thankfully, I was fortunate enough to get an eyeful of color in Colorado.
