Fall

I think fall colors are beautiful. The way the trees get painted golden yellow, bright red, pale orange, and so many other colors. Living this fall in a city with so many trees, the colors never end. Somet trees remain green but if you look at the landscape you see yellow, orange, and red dotted throughout the shades of green. It is really pretty. On my drive home from work there are some particularly pretty trees which have caused me distraction almost to the point of dirivng off the road as I admire their beauty.

In the past, I have always thought I disliked fall because it meant winter was coming and the temperature was dropping. I am a peculiar person in the fact that I think I am part cold-blooded so if the temperature is cold I am cold. For instance, my hands feel like little ice cubes right now typing away on the keyboard. They will probably not warm up fully again until April!!! I have just had to get used to that fact. But I have discovered the past few years how to appreciate the beauty of fall and now learning how to appreciate it in a city which is much different from fall in the country.

The country in fall not only looks of fall but smells of fall. You can smell the grapes ripening on the vine which is just heavenly! (I wish it was able to be bottled and sold as air freshener!) You can smell the colder air and the crisp smell of the leaves falling off the trees. I don't know how to explain it, but somehow it has a smell to it. Plus the smell of apple crisp, apple pie, apple butter, baked apples, applesauce...........on and on. (Boy, how much can you make with apples). These smells are comfortable to me knowing that winter is coming and people will go home and spend time with their family sitting around a fire, drinking warm drinks, and connecting. At least that is my picture of the holidays and I hope it to be true for most people.

Fall in the city is turning out to be different not only from the smells (mostly car exhaust) but also of what I view people's lives to be like. Driving home yesterday, I drove through downtown and the people were all in a hurry to reach their destination or get home or just cross the street without getting hit. They spend more time working, more time commuting, and less time with their families. This is a big generalization I know, but overall there is less time spent at home becasuse of the commute issues and working long hours. Not to say that the holidays can't be the same in the city as anywhere else but there are defnitly differences.



I like living in a new place and learning to appreciate new beauty - knowing that God has created all of it. I will leave you with this verse:
"let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the Lord..." Psalm 96:12-13