Arabia Mountain, October

 The leaves are turning and falling. I can’t imagine how you’d give an account that was measurable. Are a-third of the leaves gone? A-quarter?

You can see further through the forest. We were tramping around Arabia Mountain and could see outcrops that had been hidden two weeks ago.

I also don’t see how anyone can give an account of the changing colors by species. We paused under a  sweetgum that had all the colors. Some leaves were green, but others were yellow and a few were red. But there were other tones, all the soft shades of pink you see on peaches, on the same tree.

It’s hard to account for autumn.

People call this an oak-history-pine forest after the dominant species. In fall, I tend to notice the other players in the orchestra: the elms, common persimmon and red mulberry. The reddest red we saw was a black tupelo, Nyssa sylvatica.