Autumn Changes

I'm from the Northeast where the color changes in Autumn are breathtaking. The foliage looks like a jewel box of shades. When I lived in South Carolina I would walk home from work and see the late afternoon sun through the live oaks. They looked like they were on fire.

Here in Missouri, the colors come later and are more subdued. Some years we have wind and rain just as the changes are happening and the leaves will drop with no display.


I wandered through my neighborhood today to find some fall color.


The pyracantha berries have all turned orange or red, but many have already been eaten by the birds.



You may wonder why this maple has a white trunk. There is a certain insect that bores into the trunks of trees and eventually kills them. We learned that painting the trunks with acrylic paint discourages the insects. This tree was struggling until we painted it. Then it shot up.



The maples account for most of the bright color.




Autumn is a tough time of year for me. My depression and migraines both get worse in the fall. I must keep myself busy now to keep the blues away.



My Grandfather was a quiet man, but he felt strongly about certain subjects. One of those was voting. He said that voting was not just a right, but the duty of every citizen in a democracy. I registered as soon as I was old enough. As election time approached, he would remind me, along with his children and other grandchildren, to become knowledgeable about the candidates and issues.



Every election day he would phone me first thing in the morning and remind me to vote. I believe he did this with each of his grandchildren. He never asked us what party we supported or how we voted. That was our private business. But he did insist that we do our duty as citizens.

I have never missed an election. Asking for an hour of my time once every two or four years isn't much when I think of what my ancestors gave to found this country. I've had the opportunity to travel to countries where the rights of citizens are limited. I will never take my right to vote in a free election for granted.