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| Fall Colors in Full Bloom near Alpena Michigan |
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| Missy and Mindy celebrating the Harvest |
What can I say about Autumn? It's a very colorful time and the smell of leaves in the air is so invigorating. A very robust fermented like smell, not as sweet as spring flowers but a more mildly acidic with a touch of sweetness. Nothing is more enjoyable than "Indian Summer" with its warm temperatures and cool nights. Why do leaves change their color? Some say its due to temperatures dropping but the experts say it's because of the nights getting longer and this causes less chlorophyll to be produced. Eventually all chlorophyll stops being made and the carotenoids and anthocyanins inside the leaves are unmasked to expose their bright colors. The Oaks turn red, brown or russet. The Hickories turn a golden bronze. Aspens and Poplars turn yellow. The Dogwoods turn a purplish red and the Beech Trees turn tan. Maples differ from species to species from brilliant scarlet to red-orange to a glowing yellow. A succession of warm days and cool but not freezing nights should produce dazzling color displays. It's all due to warm days producing lots of sugars in the leaf but the cool nights trap the sugars in the leaf by leaf veins constricting during the cold nights. A warm dry fall will usually produce duller colors as seemed to happen this year. The word Autumn comes from the old French word Autompne in the 12th century or Automne in modern French. Also before the 16th century the word Harvest was used per the Dutch word Herfst and the German word Herbst. Eventually the word Harvest became know as to harvest the crops. The word Fall comes from the Old English word Fiaell or Feallan which means to fall from a height and I suspect it is to describe the leaves falling off the trees. I also enjoy the burning of leaves. The smell is somewhat like tobacco but more pungent and smokier. And who doesn't like hotdogs or marshmellows on a stick cooked over a burning pile of leaves! This is Jimio saying "Happy Fall- Autumn - Equinox"
