Ave autumnus

Hail (and farewell), Autumn!

So much for promises.

At the start of fall, I promised myself not to take (and share) a bazillion photos of fall foliage. Hence, you were inundated with images of sunflowers. I'm shameless.

Fall foliage photos are so hackneyed. . . so clichéd. . . and so, well, depressing.

Because. We. Know. What. Comes. Next.

But the gaping maw of Project 365, with its pernicious need for a picture a day (217 so far!), ultimately prevailed and I’ve now got fall foliage shots up the patoot. And in a minute, so will you.

But quite honestly. . . it IS a time of year where you can’t help but get caught up in the riot of color that slaps you upside the head pretty much everywhere you turn. I take it as Mother Nature's apology for the days getting shorter -- and the fact that I am now wearing gloves when I walk Ben in the morning. Sheesh.








Not to be stating the obvious, but it IS a good time of year to be a dog walker. Sure, no one can miss the brilliant daily broad vistas of park and neighborhood, but we dog walkers see the little nuggets of fall beauty easily missed by drivers, joggers and cyclists: A fragile leaf tucked tidily into the crevice of a rock wall, pine needles tossed like pick-up-sticks into a chain-link fence, and for me, the berries, tiny jewels that shimmer in shrubs already hot with color.

I'm kind of obsessed with them.

So, now that we've had our first two frosts, and these glorious leaves have started to drop at a furiously frightening pace, I'm glad I grabbed the requisite fall foliage shots. I'll no doubt flip through them periodically this winter looking for light. Not the kind you get when you flip the switch to illuminate a dark room -- more like the candle lit when the power goes out and you need that tiny luminary landmark. . . till things get back to normal.

Bring it, November.