SPENDOURS OF FALL : USA : PART 1

Autumn or Fall is a season of special celebrations in the USA. A bright and sunny summer, with its myriad fun and pleasures, has just gone by and a ruthless (mostly) winter is just round the corner. It is not cold yet, but the sun has mellowed much and the daylight wears a distinct golden sheen. People all over celebrate with yellow - more like orange-brown yellow - but yellow nonetheless. Big fat round pumpkins adorn many door-fronts, often decorated painstakingly so as to resemble funny, even weird, faces! 

Yellow-orange fat and decorated pumpkins dominate the fall scenes us

The grass in the carefully mowed lawns and elsewhere is no longer lush green but mostly yellow-green and even dry brown in patches. Barring the evergreens like pines and conifers, all trees all around rapidly change colours - golden yellow of the birches and aspens; first yellow and then gradually the deep wine red of the maples; brilliant red of the crepe myrtles, brownish red / reddish brown of the dogwoods; fiery red of the burning bush matched by the blood red of the sumac, its pods used by the Native Indians to make dyes in the past. The oaks change colour last, turning from green gradually into a deep rust colour -looking brilliant in the sunshine - before finally turning dark brown and falling to the winds. On a windy day leaves fall endlessly carpeting the ground below into an interesting medley of variagated colours. Maples are my personal favourites because of the sheer range of colours they wear throughout fall: from an original green to a lighter shade of yellow, sometimes even a kind of pink, dark golden yellow with or without spots of red, pink, brown or green, and myriad shades of red - dark claret red, lighter red and even blood red -symbolized best by the red maple on a Canadian flag- the entire range can be seen in changing maples leaves. Often, though, the leaves are blown down well before they turn dry and brown and as a result the ground around the tree may glow yellow-orange when the sun shines on the mat of leaves. Finally all leaves turn blackish brown before falling to the ground -   a sad end to a magnificent spectacle of brilliant colours.

Fall colours at Woolwine

At the Mabry Mill

Looking like a Japanese painting - spectacular fall colours at Philpott Lake 

Fall also brings along changes in bird behaviour - birds from the colder northern regions migrate to the warmer south. From where we stayed with our gracious friends in Ferrum, a small college town in Virginia, we were witness to large gaggles of Canada Geese migrating every day, their cacaphony of honking and cackling filing the sky overhead. Soon large flocks of Canada Geese would plonk in the lakes near Ferrum College. Hawks of several varieties circle overhead and also move towards warmer south. I have no idea about hawks but it was nice to see a few with red heads and bills. Bluebirds are aplenty in summer, but in fall they were distinctly more deeper yellow-rust on their breasts while the wing feathers were a little lighter blue. Mockingbirds can also be seen occasionally 

Canada Geese fly down from colder northern regions and plonk down on the waters of the Lake at Ferrum College

Bluebirds are penti but bear a deeper rust on their breasts

Fall is also the season for "Halloween" - hordes of little children dressed up, in a variety of costumes, as fancy characters go from door to door "Trick or Treat"ing with residents gladly doling out candies and sweets. Houses invariably have the decorated pumpkins, mostly carved as Jack O' Lanterns, in front and are lit up. Many-house fronts are decorated not only with pumpkins but with corn husks and figurines. More interesting still many choose cobwebs, skeletons and other ‘ghostly figure’ – may be something to do with the evil or magical beliefs connected with Halloween in the ancient pagan past.

And then comes Thanksgiving, a day of thankful prayers for the bounty and abundance in life, signalling the end of Fall. The next big celebration would be Christmas.

I have posted some photos of fall colours and Halloween decorations from Arizona, Utah, Virginia and Lombard near Chicago, Illinois. In the subsequent episode I will post more photos from the Chicago Arboretum with a few from Baltimore, Maryland. I’d be delighted to have your feedback on what you read and what you see.