Fall Foliage

Thursday - October 16, 2008

Isn't the picture posted above beautiful? Just think - it was God who was instrumental in making all things beautiful! Many times we “forget” to thank Him for such beauty! We sometimes take the beauty for granted. Thank you God for this beauty!

We have been watching the turning of the leaves on the hillside behind our house. But alas, they are not displaying the vibrant colors as the tree above! We have had the trees on Craig Road show that kind of color – however, it does not happen every year. When listening to the weather report each evening, they will explain where the color may be found and why we may or may not have the brilliant colors of fall. From what I understand it comes from the amount of rainfall (or lack of it) that we have had. All I really know is that some years the trees are full of color and other years they are not!

One of the prettiest falls I remember was when I was about ten years old! We were headed up to my grandparents who lived up a “holler” on Lick Creek. (Wayne County, WV) Dad usually took the same route when going to Mamaw and Papaw’s. This was a trip we took every weekend. My grandparents stayed up in the “holler” during the spring until the garden had been harvested. After church on this particular Sunday, we were all looking forward to see what Mamaw had cooked for us. We were always starved by the time we got there. It was fall and the trees were really full of color. But as kids, we really didn’t care about looking at the leaves on the trees. It wasn’t until we got older and think back to those times that we begin to appreciate these moments. I hadn’t thought about that trip until we were talking about the fall foliage a couple of days ago!

When we got to Mays Grocery Store on this particular Sunday, we were suppose to turn right, cross the bridge, and go through East Lynn to get to Lick Creek. However, on this particular day, Dad said we were taking a new route! We were going on an adventure! Now I had no idea where we were going and how we could get to my grandparents going a different way! I’m sure the boys (Dink, John, and Mike) knew exactly where we were and the route Dad was taking. When Dad did not turn right, it really got our attention. He explained we were taking this different way to Mamaw and Papaw’s so we could see the colors of the trees. Ugh – this meant it would take us longer to get there. The roads were extremely curvy with most bridges still one “lane.” Dad always said we had to get out and walk across the bridge because only one “Layne” could go across at a time! We ended up enjoying this new route because Dad and Mom turned it into a new adventure for us. We really started looking at the color of the leaves. We made it into a challenge as to who could see the prettiest tree first! Sadly, we did not have a camera to take pictures back then! The pictures are just embedded into our memory banks! We just need to wipe away the cobwebs for them to surface!

We have been taking pictures to show the progression of the colors on the trees behind the house. It appears we are not having the leaves with the vibrancy in color as in the past. It has been a wonder just to watch the changes in the leaves and how they change day to day. The colors show up a lot better when the sun is shining on them! Fall is not over by any means – so maybe we will get to see some really pretty colors on Craig Road this fall!

We hope all of you are enjoying the fall foliage around your homes!!! Take a Sunday afternoon ride and enjoy the beauty God has created!

These are pictures we have taken of the hillside behind the house this past year. I had not noticed how much this hillside has been a focus point when taking pictures of God's paintings! We start with snow; then on to spring before the trees are in full foliage; and then we see the progression of the color changes during the last couple of weeks. Most of the pictures were taken because of the wonder and beauty we saw in the sky and that particular hillside!











Notice the moon on the left side of the picture!



These were taken this afternoon - fog and rain has settled in for the evening!
The second picture is of some of the color we found on the trees in front of our neighbors.
The last two show a close up of the blooms from our mums!!!