Fall is in the air!

I am alive. Having coffee and checking news. Lewis has just published the pictures from his weekend in Albany, NY, and that's how I learned that fall is already there. With all the gorgeous colors on sunny days, which make me want to get out and drive upstate, up roads winding among the hills, and get lost in the fairy-tale woods. I realize that in reality I might encounter someone with a shotgun telling me to get the hell off his property. But even driving would be enough, in fact it would probably be most fun. I'd go scenic. It must be warm out there, too, because they are wearing T-shirts. I so envy him being able to travel so much, even though I kind of dislike flying. While I quite like driving, preferably in a car with a stick shift, which gives more control. But I'll take an automatic anytime if it takes me on that fall weekend upstate.

Yet, not all is lost. I'm lucky to have a garden with some Virginia creeper (parthenocissus quinquefolia) in it which turned bright red a couple of weeks ago. This morning I noticed it lost almost all its leaves but I took pictures

to enjoy them through the winter. (The purple leaves are on a barberry bush. Ignore the sticks, I'll take care of them in the spring). Then there are lime trees in the street, some still greenish, most pale yellow, as well as orangey oaks and birches in people's gardens. No sugar maples, which makes all the difference. They are not hardy here. I still have quite a lot of tidying up to do, including cutting up some wood. I'll probably satisfy myself to the point of being fed up with gardening and nature by the time cold arrives.

P.S. It has just occurred to me that I should research Canadian maples. Do they turn colors and how cold it gets there.