Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Autumn

I worried that we wouldn't have any color this autumn, but today when I drove to town, I saw bursts of red, orange, rust and yellow.  I rolled the window down as I meandered through the maple, oak and hickory to get an unobstructed view of the leaves. Even with no rain, it looks like Mother Nature will not be denied her show.
I did another interview for the Village Living paper in Mountain Brook. The community, which has the highest per capita income in the state of Alabama, has beautiful old homes nestled into the environment. 
Early city planners took great pains to retain the natural charm of the city and so all roads snake through old growth trees that look as if they took root before time was measured by clocks and calendars.
A lot of the newer communities south of Birmingham have more modern homes, but if given the choice between one of those and a quaint home in Mountain Brook, I would choose the latter.
The gentleman I interview today has lived in Mountain Brook since the late forties. He's 91 years old and his mind is sharper than most folks half his age. 
He was married to the same woman for over sixty years before he lost her in 2006. He lives alone now and his eyes teared up a little when he talked about their life together.
His work took him all over the world and he had the resources to live anywhere, but he chose Mountain Brook.
"There's really no place like it" he said. The more time I spend there, I tend to agree.
On the way home I passed a patch of wild yellow daisies basking in the evening sun. I drove by, but they were so striking, I made a U-turn and went back to shoot a few pictures.
I'm really glad I did.

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad you did too ;)

    That shot of the flowers with it's tantalizing corner of brilliant blue sky is so typical of the mountains. I miss them here on the coast.

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  2. We're right in the middle of the best of fall colors here. Very touching about the 91-year-old man and his wife. 60 years together is a long time.

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  3. I noticed some colors on our Chinese Pistachio tree yesterday. The berries on the nandina are also starting to turn. I love those fall colors, they are such a delightful contrast to the vivid blue of the autumn skies. And, yellow wild flowers are the best. :)
    tm

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