Autumn Colors

Aware that the leaves will soon be drifting to the ground, I'm posting a few more pictures in honor of our last fall in Albuquerque. Our temperatures are, on some nights, dipping below the freezing point, so it won't be long before the tree limbs are bare. I'm enjoying the color while it lasts.

Seasonal Changes

I stopped, on my drive home from work today, to take a few final pictures of the beautiful fall colors. This tree stands beside a house near the bosque. Its shimmering leaves were aglow in the early afternoon sunlight.

However many of the trees have gone through yet another change, with the arrival of the colder night-time temperatures. (Some parts of the city have seen their first frost of the season.) Their leaves are starting to dry out and to trade their clarity for a burnished, mottled hue. Soon they'll be drifting to the ground, where they'll swirl and dance in the November winds. I stopped and took this picture of some of those leaves - the harbingers of winter - in their fading splendor. (Click on the photo to see a larger version.)

Fall Weather and Darth Vader

This morning there were three things that caught my attention as I drove to work.

First, the morning temperature. I am wearing one of those new jackets I bought at CJ Banks, and it actually felt nice to have long sleeves on when I went out to the car! The leaves in Albuquerque are just beginning to turn. Today's high/low temperatures are predicted to be 72/52. There's nothing better than autumn in the Rockies.

Secondly, the sunrise was about as beautiful as sunrises can be! Most mornings our New Mexico skies are cloud-free. But this morning, although the sky was mostly clear, there were some clouds, "artfully arranged" (to quote the radio announcer) over the Sandias. The sun rose behind them as I drove to work, and in my commute I witnessed first the fiery reds, then the oranges and finally the brilliant golds as they played upon those scattered clouds. God was really creative with his paintbrush this morning.

And thirdly, I saw a number of hot air balloon trucks and trailers on the roads. As surely as the swallows return to Capistrano every spring, the hot air balloons return to Albuquerque every fall. This coming Saturday will be the first day of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (Oct. 6-14). This year there will be a brand new shape-balloon coming from Belgium for its first American debut, none other than Darth Vader! You have to go to this link and take a look at him; he's awesome! He's going to be one of the larger shape-balloons, at 86 feet tall; talk about bigger than life! To add to the festivity, some local Storm Troopers will be participating as part of the ground crew. Dan, Tim and I will be at the balloon park by 5:30 on Saturday morning to see our favorite event of the Fiesta, the "mass ascension," when approximately 800 balloons will fill the skies at once. I think Darth is going to stand out, even in a crowd like that.

Chestnuts Chilis Roasting on an Open Fire

Everyone has a favorite time of year, I suppose, and mine, hands-down, is fall. I can't even explain why, or how, it stirs and invigorates me, every year, when the leaves begin to turn and the morning air turns nippy. Maybe it's because I've been on some sort of academic calendar - whether as a student, a teacher, a school volunteer, a teacher-certifier, or a university staff member - for 47 years; so, to me, fall means, a new beginning. Or maybe it's because fall is a precursor to the holiday season, which I love. Or, maybe it's that the colors, the smells and the tastes of the season are simply delicious.

In Albuquerque, I've come to recognize a new sign of the season, for it's in the fall when they harvest and roast the chilis. You can go to a supermarket or a farmers' market, buy your favorite variety of fresh chilis, and take them out to the parking lot, where someone will roast them for you.


Yesterday, for the first time this season, even before I stepped out of the car, I smelled the pungent aroma of roasting chilis. That's when I realized that I must actually be a New Mexican at last, because the smell of the chilis signaled inside me the coming of fall.