Sunday Scribblings – “Intense”

Ever since I mentioned to Pete that I wanted to visit the US around mid-to-late October - preferably the New England states - to see the Fall colours because they’re more beautiful there, he’s been on a personal mission to convert me to the glories of autumn in the UK. Basically, every time we pass a tree with any hint of colour other than brown, he makes sure to point it out to me. Mostly, he does it to annoy me (it works) because he knows perfectly well that he’s preaching to the converted on this issue. I love autumn in the UK, because I think the countryside – especially in Shropshire - looks beautiful this time of year. The autumn colours have been especially pretty this year, the colours more intense and a bit more varied than I remember from last year or the year before that.

That said, my mind has been set on seeing the Fall colours in the States ever since I laid eyes on the spectacular photographs that my sister sent when she first moved to the USA. The trees were absolutely glowing with jewel-coloured leaves and the ground was carpeted in them too - red, pink, orange, yellow, scarlet, rust, brown and every variation on those hues.

Apart from the glorious colours, the sheer novelty of trees clad in such intense colours was stunning, because I’d only ever seen trees in the tropics (all variations of green, and in Madras, all variations of green with an overcoat of dingy brown dust) at that point.

In the UK, as my mother-in-law pointed out recently, the different varieties of trees in the countryside mean that they do not turn colour uniformly or at the same time. Also, there are lots more evergreens (at least in Shropshire) which don't turn any sort of colour. (In spring, though, the dark green older branches are tipped with the most tenderly bright green new leaves - how I love that!)

The predominant colour in the trees here is yellow. They range from mustard to golden to lemon with shades of brown - all lovely, I admit. There are of course some trees (but never in concentrated numbers) which sport glorious shades of orange, rust and red. Pete NEVER tires of pointing them out and saying "See? We too have trees that turn red and orange".

And me, I never tire of saying to him "Yes, I see a single tree and yes it is gorgeous. Now show me a hillside or a wood full of trees just like this and I will concede that the Fall colours US trip is unnecessary."

He hasn't been able to, yet.