Outside MY window

The picture from MY window!

A friend of mine who lives in an Indiana "holler" has a BLOG and she's been keeping track of things that happen outside her window. She's been doing this every day for over 120 days. Wow! So, I thought I'd show you something that I noticed -- rather suddenly -- outside one of MY windows, the same window from which I take most of my neighborhood pictures.

And yes, this has to do with my life in Runnemede.

I was sitting out on my sunporch/lanai/deck/veranda yesterday afternoon and I noticed that the trees were turning into their fall colors ALREADY. I mean it's still summer, and I don't recall any other summer to fall season, since we've lived in this area of the USA, that being over 30 years, that the trees changed from summer to fall in late August! Usually -- in fact I can't remember year when this hasn't been true -- the trees change in late October and then the week before Thanksgiving, we get a cold front come through with winds over 20 mph and all the leaves are gone overnight. This has been something I've thought about for all the years we've lived here, waiting impatiently for the trees to change their color, knowing that in NJ (back home) the trees are already bare, and here in KY the leaves are green, maybe tinged with some color. But not until late October are the trees in full-color mode.

Well, this morning I noticed that a few more trees were turning, including those on the knob/hill/mountain across the road from my home (in the south they call them knobs, in the Rockies they call them hills, in NJ they call them mountains!).

Yes, it's been a cool summer (so much for global warming). And I've absolutely loved the weather this summer, swimming or not swimming. It's been absolutely lovely. And now it really feels like autumn and I'm loving it even more, except that the darkness is descending upon us.

I recall one fall, in particular, when I was growing up in Runnemede. I was in fifth grade. And I know it was September because school had just started up, and it was still light out after dinner. In NJ it gets dark earlier in the evening that it does out here. That aside, I recall that I was taking a walk around the neighborhood, which I loved to do after dinner, often hoping that dad and mom would want me to go to Joe's and pick up some ice cream. This particular evening was not one of them.

I also recall that it dawned on me that the leaves on the trees had changed to their fall hues. In New Jersey, the colors are more vivid than they are in Kentucky. That's either because of the type of trees or because of the weather, I don't know for sure. But it impressed on me that Fall was here, whether the calendar agreed with that or not. The trees had changed, the weather was cool, and I remember that because I distinctly recall having to put on a sweater before I went outside for the walk.

I have always loved Fall, not just because of the vivid colors, but because of the weather cooling down (I'm not a lover of hot weather) and because, well, it was getting closer to Halloween, and all those treats that I could only enjoy one time a year. It was apple taffy (not taffy apple) time.

Just to let me know that summer is almost over, even if the trees are telling me this is a certainty, I went to the Farmer's Market today, and was told that today was the last day for peaches. Bummer. They've been SOOOOOOO good this year. The corn supply was minimal and I was told maybe another two weeks maximum. Tomatoes would still be around for a while, and apples were coming in. Apples. Apple taffy!

Can't wait!

ttfn