Friday, September 11, 2009

The Colors of Autumn

When my family moved from the beautiful mountainous terrain of Colorado to the flat warmth of Florida, I think the thing I missed the most was the changing of the leaves. So when I left the white sandy beaches of my hometown to attend college in Tennessee and then grad school in Missouri, I was most excited about the possibility of actual seasons, instead of just varying degrees of warmth and heat. Okay, I exaggerate. I'm from north Florida, and believe it or not, it can get a little nippy there. I even owned sweaters, I swear! Regardless, I was most excited about the season of Autumn because even though north Florida is more seasonal than the rest of the state, we still only have basically one tree.

The pine tree (note bene: Not the pine tree that produces pretty pine cones. Oh no, we're talking about the one who produces an overabundance of pine needles).

Oh, how I loathe thee, pine tree! Your needles are the bane of my existence. How many hours was I forced to rake up the needles which you so carelessly dropped into our yard? Your sap attacks my defenseless car, allowing even more bugs to meld themselves into the paint; your ruthless goo sticks to the prongs of the rake, making yard work a wretched punishment. You don't allow children the joy of crunching your freshly-fallen leaves or jumping into piles of of leaves. You are not even creative; you do nothing to change your colors. Green and brown, that's all you will ever be!

So maybe I'm being a bit dramatic (I am not a fan of the pine tree, as you can tell). But seriously, if you ask anyone to list their favorite things about autumn, the changing color of the leaves is usually near the top of the list. Our leaves don't change color in Florida. We have pine trees, palm trees, and evergreens. Now, I love Florida and my hometown dearly. I am quite attached to it, and if you were to ask, I would vehemently proclaim that we have the whitest sand of any beach, the spray-painted bridge is a magnificent work of art, and that Pensacola was, in all actuality, the first city in our nation (St. Augustine doesn't have anything on us). However, there is one thing we lack- autumn colors.

I took these pictures last fall in Columbia. My dearest friend Jen requested shots of the autumn colors- something about being in the dry, desert heat of the Middle East made her crave the rich vibrant colors of fall...so, here you go Jen. Only a year late. Maybe I can get some shots of Louisville for you soon. Here's to hoping Louisville is as lovely in the fall as Columbia is.

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