Fleeting Beauty

After our freak snow, the weather is clear and sunny and heart-breakingly beautiful. There's something bitter-sweet about fall colors -- the way they come and go so quickly.

I had to be in Asheville yesterday so I wore my rose-colored glasses and delighted at the display of flamboyant tints on every side. It's a particular joy to me, having grown up more or less seasonally deprived in Florida -- oh, the dogwoods went red and there was a fine show of yellow from the hickory in my grandparents' front yard but still and all, with palm trees and live oaks on every side, it didn't look much like a real Fall --

Already, though, the leaves are dropping and conscientious home owners are raking or blowing them into huge heaps or bagging them to be taken away.

I hope there are still some kids, not too busy with Gameboys or after-school enrichment programs, who jump into these huge crackling piles of leaves and revel in the fallen glory.