Holding Onto Leaves

Do you ever wonder how tenaciously a tree holds onto its leaves? Are some weak and ready for winter, and throw them off eagerly? Here's a beauty still holding on.

This pair of trees are pretty each year.

Two days ago this tree was a brilliant yellow. Alas, I waited too long to capture its radiance, and now it's a fallen crown in the grass.

I like them in a row along a quiet street with a strip of sidewalk.

This is a sparse crepe myrtle, but the orange-red against the blue paint of the Oriental Food Emporium is striking.

We have a few zippy reds this year around town.

I found this stray leaf in our yard and rescued it. Now it sits atop the piano, and soon I'll lay it between the pages of a book. Will I find it again, or will somebody else in a few decades? We're moving books these days to the new house, and I find myself wondering when in the world I'll ever read all these books again. If I have 30 years left, and I read several each year, I still won't get through them all. And I have new ones I want to buy! Oh, dear. I hold onto my leaves tenaciously too.

In the Deep South, as I've noted before, we have winter bloomers, and camellias are a favorite. Some apparently bloom early, in November, and others wait until January. How obliging of them!

You should know that the vast majority of our forest landscape is green, much of it year round. We have pines everywhere of many varieties, and other evergreens. So our bright yellows, oranges, and reds are a real treat.

My friend Pom from Colorado says her trees are all bare now. How thankful I am to still see this color around us here in coastal Carolina.

This fellow is still struggling to let go of his green and change clothes for the season. Hurry up!

And as soon as the red jacket is put on ... poof!! It falls away. But how brilliant its moment of wonder!