I woke up yesterday and noticed that the leaves are starting turn outside. Just a bit of yellow here and a tiny bit of red there. I love and hate autumn.

Love it, because the colors are beautiful. And we have a spectacular view where I live. When we get to peak colors, there is nothing more gorgeous. Hate it, because there won’t be anymore leaves on the trees and it all goes so quickly. Within a few weeks, the world goes from a riot of colors to nothing but bare branches.

For the first month or two, the bare branches are okay. I can see things I couldn’t see during the summer - houses tucked behind a row of maples or roads twisting through the mountains, up and up and up. Things are exposed. Different.

But usually by December or January, I am wishing for the cloak of green.

Right now, though, I will look forward to the coming fall season. I’ll hope for some of those sunny days with the bright blue skies that seem almost too blue to be real. I want time to slow down. I want to be able to take it all in and remember how beautiful it can be, before the dead of winter sets in.