SPOTTY CHANGE

Autumn's color is truly getting underway—in some quarters, anyway. At certain corners, a stretch of woodland edge, this fencerow, that particular maple, the change-over is occasionally dazzling. But elsewhere it's still spotty, even almost nonexistent, as if not every bush and tree has yet gotten the message. Or maybe this patchy early color is just the plant-world's example of those folks who always insist on arriving 45 minutes early for church, a movie, or their dinner reservations at a restaurant.

I made the top photo from the truck, just up the road, during a morning shower. The image on the bottom, a view of the river a half-mile upstream from the cottage, was taken a few minutes later.

See what I mean?

Of course some things, such as this spiraling crimson flame of Virginia creeper couldn't turn any brighter, or redder, or prettier if it took another full month to strut its stuff. This individual vine is at its very peak, though other nearby examples range from pink to pale-orange to still fully green.