The Flames of Autumn

Posted: July 27, 2009 
Filed under: Nature
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This tree began blossoming into fall colours much sooner than the rest on my property.  It was buried within the hedge of thorn trees and vines that segregates one of my neighbour’s yards from mine, and shoots of colour would peep out from beneath the green.  Soon, autumn would spark on another tree, and another, and the fires would set root and consume the yard, to the outlying forest.

Fall is southern Ontario’s most wonderful time of year.  The spring, for the most part, is soggy and dank, with a dull, rotting aroma misting out of the ground (all the garbage that ignorant people throw out their windows during the winter, which most think is magically taken away by the snow fairy whenever it snows and covers the ground white anew, is revealed in its horrid multitude along the ditches and riverbanks); the summer, though lush and vibrant, is sweltering and the mosquitoes can drive one mad (though this is also a great time of year to visit Ontario, as the canoe and portage trails are a great escape from the vanities and stresses of civilized life); but, the fall is cooler, the bugs are dying, and the clawing cold has not yet strangled the green life from view.  The fiery colours light up the landscapes just before all colour but white and blue are stolen, and in these few and fleeting months we’ll flock to the forests like the members of some new kind of Eleusinian Mystery, congregating in the groves and on the hilltop, a slow-stepping procession to give thanks for the summer and to proffer our gratitude in hopes of an easier winter.  I love this land.

For more information about the processes churning within leaves as they change colour, please visit http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/misc/leaves/leaves.htm