Nell's Hill, peak color

Today is rainy, and most of the fall leaves will be down before the weekend ends. Still, I didn’t want the season to pass without posting a few of the photos I took of the peak color on Nell’s Hill. I took the photos last Saturday morning not long after sunrise. The sun still hadn’t reached the bottom of the mountain. The overcast sky added a beautifully odd light to the early morning. Combined with the brilliance of the fall leaves, the mountain glowed like a flame. Ah, how lucky can I get?

By the next day, the color was still gorgeous, but the sky was not. It was dull and heavy with gray clouds. The mountain didn’t shine at all. The sun was hidden and didn’t light up the top of the mountain. So Saturday was the best day to see the colors, and it seems greedy to have hoped for a second day to repeat such beauty.

Just so you can see the difference, I’m including the photos of the same view taken the week and two weeks before this photo. Ah, how quickly the year can change. If I’d taken photos in midsummer the same two weeks apart, you probably couldn’t see any difference among them at all. But at this point, this cusp, of the year, the difference is astonishing.

And today, snow is in the forecast for this Saturday. It likely won’t be much and likely won’t stick to the ground, but looking at the photos of peak color, it’s hard to imagine that this color and snow will be separated by a mere week.

Last night, the temperature was almost balmy. The early evening still held the heat of the day. I sat outside on my front deck for a while, thinking that it might be the last time I could do so for the next four or five months without being bundled up. I love the winter and feel it is already too short, but for a few minutes on one evening I could enjoy the warmth and feel a touch sad at its passing.

Nell's Hill week 2

Nell's hill week 1