Sunday, November 17, 2013

Enjoying Another Spectacular Fall

For the past month, I have been composing this post in my head as I walk my dog, Rocco, through Kingsville.

When I moved to Essex County the first time in 1984, I remember being impressed by the slowness of the Fall, as well as the multitude of reds and oranges.  The first Spring drove me crazy. Why?  Because it took so LONG!!!  Baby leaves would appear, much earlier than what I'd been used to, but they then took forever to open fully, probably twice as long as what I'd been used to.  Last year, when we had moved back here, and again this year, what impressed me more than the length of the Fall, was the spectacular COLOURS.  I pulled over a couple of times to snap pics of stunning reds and oranges against a backdrop of forest green:

Taken October 10, 2012

On one of our daytrips over the river to Detroit, these trees made me stop and gawk.  They look like some giant had come along and dipped them in orange-red icing, as they all were turning from the TOP on down.  I've never seen anything like it.  I still have no clue what kind of tree this is, but it looks a little in shape like the ornamental pear at the top of our lane here.
Madison Heights, MI October 24, 2012

This year was much the same as before, although I didn't pull over or lean out of a moving vehicle to snap any pictures!  I never was a huge fan of Fall, simply because it always heralded the beginning of a very long, cold, dark winter.  Being here now, I have fallen in love with Fall, ha, and the vibrant colours singing around me in all their glory make me want to rush home and grab fabric and make a quilt!!

The beginning, October 22.  This was taken (sorry it's with my iPhone, so not the greatest of resolution) on the Chrysler Greenway, a section of which we walk pretty much every day in our daily dog walks!  Some trees were beginning to change, but not many.
This is another section of the Greenway, taken Oct. 27, showing what I think is, according to how my 84-year-old friend Doug, who has lived here all his life, taught me to recognize them:  a red oak.
Red Oak (I think!)
I love how there are so many colours on the one tree: shades of green to yellow to peach, to orange and orange-red.

We live in Carolinian Forest.  I used to live in a Boreal Forest.  They both have their beauty, and I've always found myself most serene and at peace amongst trees.  However, the ancient trees around here remind me of the awestruck feelings I had in Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island when standing amongst those giants.  It sounds rather flaky, but I feel their vibrations, their hum, their wisdom, their good chi, when I touch them.  There is one old boy I touch just about every day on my walk through Lakeside Park.  I think he's a Cottonwood.

When I was in Nice, France, in 2009, there were "camouflage bark" trees lining many of the streets.  They were SO cool.  I asked some of the other teachers on the trip what they were, and they told me plane trees.  I was floored to find the very same trees right here in Kingsville last summer.  However, I've been calling them plane trees, but it seems they are called sycamore here.  There is one in Windsor that is 200 years old that was in the paper last year because a new landowner wanted to chop it down since some of its branches were pressing on the roof and eavestroughs of the house.  That tree was a baby when the War of 1812 was on.  Wow.  Here are some in Kingsville, taken October 27:


American Sycamore aka Plane Tree Oct. 27
I took this picture October 29.  These three trees were beautiful as they slowly changed.  I think they are a sugar maple, but again, I do not know for sure.  We also have beautiful black maples that are pretty much a burgundy-black all summer.

Back on the Greenway, on November 4, I took these to show the change as well as the intense red of these trees.  Because it was a dull day, the grass seemed to just glow, almost fluorescent.

Sugar?? Maple

More orange in tone, the leaves left on this tree

A leaf off the Sugar Maple(?), just lying on the path; I love how it pops against the greys! Note to self for another Fall quilt...
I found this interesting.  It is part of a large sign on the Greenway just by our Mettawas railway station that gives information about local trees.  I had no idea there were this many kinds of oak!! Nor did I know we had a 300-year-old tree here! My daughter has a White Oak on her front lawn that keeps its leaves all winter, loses them in the Spring, and then gets new ones.  You can see Mettawas Station in the background of the second pic.

Green, gold, orange, red, burgundy, all against an azure sky...perfection

The picture below was taken on November 7.  This is one humungous tree.  Note the rooftop of the house at the bottom of the picture!  I think this is the one Doug said is a Manitoba Maple.  It's a lot bigger than those I was used to in the Edmonton area though, so I could be wrong.  Again, note the variety of colour on ONE tree.  Wow.  I also love the blue sky in the background; Nature has such a perfect palette.

Okay, so with all that inspiration laid out in front of me, I'm off downstairs to quilt.  Seaside Rose is getting her binding on!

2 comments:

  1. That guy never cut down the tree I hope! Can't he just trim the branches?
    Wow, awe-inspiring pics!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I haven't heard. Should google and see if there's been an update since last year. Thank you about the pics, but you know (and here we go again with menopausal melon) I just recalled a beautiful picture I took of a local farmer's presentation at their roadside market, taken with this post in mind at the time...ya, totally forgot to include it!! Sigh.

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