Thoreau Was Right

My friend Kathy shared this the other day “The thinnest yellow light of November is more warming and exhilarating than any wine.” ~Henry David Thoreau  True in his time and ours.  We’ve reach the point where there are more leaves off the trees than on and this year that point was hastened by Hurricane Sandy.

Yesterday I watched my feet more than looked the trees in an effort to prevent a nasty fall on a very squishy trail.  The further I walked the more removed I became from the city noise and began to focus on the forest.  I started playing the “name that leaf” game, calling them off to myself as I stepped on and around them on the trail.  Then I noticed most of the leaves on the ground were green.  Hmmm…. I looked up at the trees to see why and I like to think I experienced that ah ha moment Thoreau captured in his beautiful quote.

The light was amazing!  Like a digital diary, my brain said, yep, we’re on the backside of fall.  And in a blink of an eye, I was a ten-year old hanging on every word Mrs. Anderson shared about the processes of fall as we hiked through the Allegheny National Forest.  She read folktales, recited poetry, and gave us moments to just sit and observe.  Very little kept me still as a kid, but laying in the forest and watching the light definitely did it.  It was a wonderful moment one I get to relive each fall and one I hope you get out and experience before the snow flies. 🙂