Fall’s Acts II and III

The brilliant colors are fading. The scarlet leaves are fluttering down. Some of the maples already stand naked, their leaves scattered beneath them. People say fall is about done.

But wait a minute. Look around and relish the second act while it lasts. The red maple leaves may be going, but the yellow maples are in full dress. And the oaks are taking over, with their burnt orange and warm bronze leaves, sometimes mixed with left-over green – what a wonderful mixture. Quivering leaves of the silver maple offer further contrast.

An occasional splash of bright red still peeks through, and scarlet has reappeared on the ground, where bright carpets of blueberry and hedges of bushy staghorn sumac fairly shout in their autumn glory. Bracken ferns, now turned a rusty brown, add a soothing note. But mostly the yellows and oranges have taken command – the oaks, various maples, quaking aspen, ash and birch. These new colors have a beauty of their own, rivaling the spectacular palette of a few weeks ago.

Act II this year is every bit as strikingly beautiful as the fading first act, and Act III is yet to come. Before long, most of the deciduous trees will stand bare, leaving the dark pines and spruces to supply somber wintry color. That final act will be the season that some folks love the best, the crisp, clear days when the big floppy leaves of summer are all gone and we can enjoy unobstructed vistas of the profiles of the hills and the breathless blue of the lakes and the inlets and the bays and the ocean beyond.