What’s wrong with this picture?
October 23, 2018
Right. October 23. The middle of autumn. WHERE ARE THE FALL COLORS?
I’m told that in some places it’s Autumn As Usual. The reds are red. The golds are gold.
But here in Southwestern Pennsylvania, the trees either have green leaves or none.
This same picture from our back porch taken October 28, 2013:
SIGH. Not only are the skies gray, and the garden is finished, and the temperatures are in the forties, there are no bright autumn colors to cheer us and make this transition from summer to winter easier.
Some experts have predicted that maybe next week the leaves will turn. That the abundant rain in August and the warm temperatures in early October caused the leaves to keep producing chlorophyll, which keeps them green.
I remember as a kid asking about why the leaves were turning colors when we hadn’t had any cold temperatures yet. I was informed (by a science teacher) that it wasn’t the temperature, but the lesser daylight of fall that made the trees stop producing chlorophyll. Kind of makes me wonder what other misinformation I was given…
So I’ve done some research on this (read Googling why leaves turn color). The SUNY College of Environment and Forestry says, “Rainy and/or overcast days tend to increase the intensity of fall colors.” The website Earthsky.org notes, “Autumn seasons with a lot of sunny days and cold nights will have the brightest colors.” No wonder I was confused…
So with the lack of beautiful autumn photos to show you, I’ll post some pictures of what we’ve been doing for the last three months.
The back porch was mostly finished just in time for Labor Day.
The No-Fun Rule was in effect all summer, so we took a deferred vacation in early October to the Napa Valley. If your kids don’t live nearby, they should at least live in a great place to visit.
Thankful and blessed. Yes that’s what I’m feeling as I look over these photos. Despite no extravagant fall colors.
Instead I brought the fall colors inside to my living room. 
There’s always a way to find joy.
the circle of life 
I was so excited to see your post on my email!!! I miss those beautiful colors of Fall, too! We are beginning to see a little more red and yellows here in northwestern Pennsylvania, but not nearly what we have seen other years. Your porch is amazing!!!! Lucky you!! I know, not luck – hard work. So worth it!
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Since we finished it we’ve had exactly one chance to have people over. And now it’s almost November! I can’t wait for retirement😀 Hard to believe you up north are having the same fall we are.
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So glad for another post. The porch looks lovely.
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Thanks. We just get it ready— to have to put the cushions away for winter!
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We are the lucky folks who were visiting and believe me, the deck looks even better in person. These two are not afraid of hard work. We also savored an amazing dinner that same day and enjoyed hanging out with two of our very favorite people. Love you, 2
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Sorry about that — I actually noticed more yellows than reds this year, but I can’t complain, as we had the different autumn colours. Your back porch and the other photos are beautiful!
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We did finally get several days of color but not like usual—very subdued. Yes. More yellows than reds.
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And in Central PA, color just arrived last week! Hope you enjoyed your trip to Napa… my daughter lived there for five years. :)
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It’s a wonderful place to visit. And we’re getting to explore other parts of California when we go. It’s just far…
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I’m obviously very late in reading this post – but during these current cold winter months this post is a fun reminder of what the weather was like just a few months ago.
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Oh thank you. I’ve been quite bad at writing posts. My life has been chaotic for the last six months. So now in January I’m either going to start again or end it completely. Thanks for your comment to let me know there are still people reading :-)
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