The World Is Ablaze

...and yesterday I couldn't just sit inside and waste it.

If I could choose a season to bottle up, it would be fall. The pungent spice of wild apples, the smell of loamy earth and mushrooms and moss, the sound of drying leaves skittering against each other, the feel of sunshine and wind, the trees all aflame. It's the kind of beauty that hurts.

Unfortunately, I couldn't entirely leave work behind, so armed with a backpack, some water, and a textbook, I headed out to soak in some glory. [I was gone for four hours, and to tell the complete truth I hiked about 85% of the time, daydreamed about 10%, and read about 5%. Can you blame me?]

It was a regular adventure, complete with oddities and treasures and enough color to make my eyes wish they didn't have to blink.

Apprehended! I caught him brown-handed.

I spied this little fellow hurrying across the road. He tried to tell me news about the coming winter as he rushed by, but, alas, I don't speak Woolly Bear.

Moss-bridge.

Wild apples.

(a.k.a. Debbie's mid-afternoon snack)

It's difficult when one feels like a turtle with one's house on one's back.

This is one of those cemeteries where you like to stay awhile. He was just a little bit younger than I. Perhaps that is why the willow weeps.

Treasure. You should have seen me...I looked like a squirrel, scrabbling. I had all sorts of odd lumps and bulges all over me from sticking things in pockets.

Fungi. Each time I spotted a new one I was ridiculously delighted.

I've named this one Fungulily.

It has a secret, too. This one lets you see its insides. See that hole?

It hides a fire-opal within.

Puffballs will forever remind me of my childhood. 

Here are a few landscape shots. They don't even come close to doing it justice--multiply the colors by ten, and you'll be getting there.

Silent sentinel.

The best part of the walk was the colors. The sunbeams were lighting everything up with a perfect translucence.

It was one of those days where it seems like heaven has sprung out of cracks in the clouds and loosed itself on earth.

I was sad to leave, but I took some color home with me.