Saturday dawned cloudy, but the sun soon broke through. Then the clouds came again, dark clouds. Then, a few minutes later, the sun once again came out. This pattern continued for several hours, with it being cloudy more than sunny.

And windy. I did my usual Saturday morning paperwork, followed by some unusual disaccumulation tasks. That brought me to around 11:30 a.m. What to do next? It was about 55°, and the wind growing stronger. It wasn’t exactly the day for yardwork, but that’s what I’d planned on doing.  But at least it was dry. I had my choice of tasks: remove recent deadfall from our woodlot, or tend to the blackberry bushes across the street. Most years I’m slow getting to the blackberry bushes and, as a result, they bloom out without my having done the tasks to maximize their yield.

So I had three choices: the woodlot, the blackberries, or stay inside out of the wind, like any sensible person would. I decided to work on the blackberries. The work to be done was cutting out competing plants and removing some deadfall that may have broken down some of the blackberries. I started with the cutting.

Since I hadn’t done this for a couple of years there was a lot to do. Lots of bending and reaching, working around thorns to get to the plants that needed removal. It wasn’t strenuous work, but it was tiring. I worked around the blackberry branches, causing me to have to work slowly and be cautious. Still, I managed to get the worst of the competing plants cut away. That took all the time I had for yardwork, and I headed inside.

It wasn’t, perhaps, a major advance in getting through the to-do list, but it sure felt good. Especially because today, Sunday, it turned cold—just 32 degrees for the high. The next two days will be colder with winter weather possible or probable. That means on Wednesday, all the areas where I cleared on Saturday would be wet and not very nice to get to. Had I not done the work on Saturday, who knows when conditions would be right to do it.

That’s not an earth-shattering success. Sometimes, however, you have to understand the scattered nature of the tasks on my to-do list. There’s writing, stock market, family finances, taking down Christmas decorations, general cleaning, and a number of other things I could name. Once again, I’m feeling a bit discombobulated. Appointments and travel are just over the horizon. That always makes me unsettled.

So what is this post about? Darned if I know. I’m getting a few things done, but the unsettled and incomplete feeling remains.

Sorry folks. I’ve been down with a deep cold this weekend. I could feel the beginnings of it on Friday. It increased Saturday and came on in full force on Sunday. Still almost as strong today.

So I’ll not write a post today. I hope to be back Friday.

Readers, sorry that I didn’t post anything on Friday, and that I’m late today. All I can say is I’m going through some difficult personal times right now. Also, I’m terribly busy with non-writing things around the house. For example, all morning so far I’ve been trying to estimate my income tax due next year for the 2022 tax year. I have to figure out if I will need to make an interim payment to the government so that I won’t be hit with penalties and interest. Since this year had one unusual income item (sale of all my stock in my former company), this is quite important.

I have other things going on, such as needing to replace the microwave oven (difficult since it’s a built-in), needing to get our main car to the shop, needing to get our back-up car running, cleaning/resetting things after some inside repairs, needing to schedule appointments. That doesn’t seem to include everything. Oh, yes, voting tomorrow, and figuring out who I’m going to vote for in local races.

So, I’m unable to do any better post than this today. Here’s hope for a real post on Friday, because I have much to tell.

You hear it ever year: Fall is the best season of the year.

Nature lovers who can’t wait for winter to end say it. Beach lovers who long all year for summer and waves and sun and umbrellas and sand between the toes say it.

You hear it almost every year in just about any season. People who really like another season will, as September fades and October with its cooler temperatures come on, will proclaim the glories of fall.

Why? In the American south, it will be the joy of those cooler temperatures after fighting heat for three or four months. For the northern US it will be the fall foliage. Other parts of the country will have foliage changes also, but not like the north and northeast.

What about the Virginia-North Carolina Piedmont area, you ask? Yes, the colors are spectacular there too. What about the Ozarks? Hmmm, let’s discuss that.

I remember a drive I took one fall day in the mid-1980s from Asheboro, NC thirty miles north to Greensboro. It was the peak of fall colors. The wide, clear right-of-way on the interstate allows for incredible views. The rolling hills were ablaze with solid oranges and reds. Just great to look at.

But I was reminded of my native New England. There, the fall colors are a little more muted but a lot more varied. I remember a trip to Vermont in October 2002. It was a little before peak foliage season. Lynda and I got out on some back roads, looking for beaver ponds and other wildlife. We found a secluded valley and sat for a couple of hours. I don’t remember much wildlife coming by, but the view there and coming and going to there were all very nice. The colors were a mix of yellow, purple, red, orange, and green. Evergreen trees dotted the mixed hardwood-softwood forest, creating a color palate mix that any artist would love to have.

Which is better, the Piedmont or upstate New England? That depends on if you want foliage like blazing fire or like an artist’s paints board. There’s no right or wrong.

What about the Ozarks? Well, for me, the foliage is not as good. In towns, you have a good mix of maples and other trees, not native to the Ozarks but brought in by people. Drive through most towns at peak season and the colors are great. But, out in the natural world, the forests are mostly oak. And the oaks we have here, the leaves just turn brown. They do so at least a week past the softwood tree peak. Brown after mixed colors. Hmmm. You would think the color mix would be better.

But, if you can catch the oaks on a sunny day, with the sun hitting the hillside just right, the brown oak leaves reflect back to you a wonderful orange-brown. It’s not as uniform in color as the Piedmont forests. It’s not quite as vibrant as the New England woods. But it’s a good sight to behold. If that’s all you see, it’s good enough for fall.

And, the mix of trees means you have a longer foliage season. The peak colors in town are around Oct 15-25 in our part of the Ozarks. The oaks tend to peak around Nov 1-10. I always like to drive a little on the first Sunday in November—provided it’s sunny. That is one drawback to oak foliage season. If you don’t have bright sun, all you’ll see is the dull brown. But, since this is generally a dry time of year, cloudless days abound during this time, and you have many good viewing days.

It helps that I’ve lived in four different areas of the country, and observed fall colors in towns and countryside, and saw the contrasts. I’d like to think God led me to these different places for me to enjoy fall in a number of different ways. Foliage variations is certainly one of them.