Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for October 20, 2019

And if it’s Finland they have to rake them, even in the woods. So says the orange one

I was in Yosemite National Park one year in late fall, and the fall colors were gorgeous. I’d never heard of fall color in Yosemite, and asked why it wasn’t promoted more (I’m on their mailing list, and get stuff for every other season of the year). They said because usually a wind comes up within a day or two and blows them all off the trees and that’s that.

By the way, if you’ve never been to Yosemite between September and April, it’s a totally different park. No crowds anywhere, and the rangers have time to chat.

Mark down the day so next year you can go 1 day earlier.

“Missed it by THAT much…”

Enjoy the beauty, forget the picture.

On a good year, the color and the foomp effect are separated by a couple of days, maybe even a week. OK years are like this, and normal (lately, hereabouts) years mostly have trees changing from green to tan to brown to fallen without much in the way of yellow or red.

Seize the day, and go romping in the fallen leaves. Duh.

Oh, I remember the wonderful smell of leaves burning in the ditch. LONG time ago…

He who hesitates….

If your up near the tree line (Alaska, Yukon) the poplar and aspen leaves smell like dog pee once they hit the ground.

Looks like the Sycamore tree in my front yard…

Please turn the phone sideways to get a good picture instead of some truncated POS!

I’m in New Hampshire this weekend. No FOOMP yet.

Gravity may only be a theory, but it looks real to me. Ruined my photo. Should have use the video mode.

And then the Wiley Bears show up for their snack.

I live on a lot surrounded by woods. I wait until I estimate that 90% of them have fallen. Because I am surrounded by trees, I get a lot of leaves : that’s the bad news. The good news is that I just have to blow them back into the woods; I don’t have to bag them.

Color this year has not been great due to very dry conditions in late summer.

And of course ,get a recording of the wife admitting you were right!

oh yeah

In my neighborhood (eastern Ontario) the last few days of leaf color have been so beautiful, it’s been literally breathtaking.

Autumn is Mother Nature’s way of dumping on you. FOOMP!

Digital media for recording. Better to take a photo for every leaf and sort later or just take the best shots…

No color in downstate NY yet…

In our central VA yard, over a dozen 60-year-old white trees cohabit with us. White and post oaks drop their leaves over about a month. Reds like to hold onto a lot of leaves until new spring leaves push them off. From Oct to Jan the air is filled with the sounds of blowers and vacuums, so ‘tranquility’ comes infrequently. But it is the way of life and the absence of the trees would leave only barren ground, so I appreciate it for what it is.

It’s all still green in The OC.

The Leaves can Tell when you are about to snap the Photo.

And, they are Very Shy.

I live about an hour away from the Appalachian Mountains. The trees change color from the top of the mountains, then down the slopes every few weeks so there’s almost a month worth of seeing the leaves.

I could swear that “foomp” is a nod to a much older comic – Peanuts perhaps? I remember a strip from many years ago when the leaves would all fall at once with a sound effect (I think it was “whomp”). Does this sound familiar?

Good. A sweet and sentimental cartoon. What we all need every once in a while.

Did I just blink?

Since I can no longer walk much and gotten a wee bit older, I had forgotten how great it was to be able to come down off the mountain in the late afternoon and see the colors down in the willow breaks and along the creeks in late autumn.There is more to going “Hunting” than you’ll ever know…Miss my trips to Idaho and the friends there….Thanks for the reminder….

And next week the “FOOMP” will be the white stuff GRRRRR

A few years ago we drove up to Stowe, Vermont, to see some real fall color. (Here in western southeast North Carolina the cold weather doesn’t come on quickly enough to force the colors so it’s all piney woods and occasional brown leaves). When we got there the trees were bare. Said a local, “Ay-yuh, you’re just a day too late.”

Of course the magic of the colors is just that….there are multiple shades and different hues not just orange.