Dropped Into the Midst of Autumn at its Peak

Usually we have the luxury of having autumn gradually creep up on us. First the Walnut trees and the locust start to yellow and drop their leaves (first to drop, last to leaf!). Then the dogwoods start to turn along with the oakleaf hydragenea. And then one by one different trees and bushes of different species start to turn on their colors. Until one day its the peak and the next day we're on the downhill slide into winter. This is usually a two to three month process from start to finish. But this year we were out of the country for over 4 weeks (all of October the first few days of November). So when we landed at JFK and drove out the jersey turnpike towards Pennsylvania we were literally assaulted (visually at least) with a barage of oranges, reds, and yellow. EVERYTHING was a firework! We went from the greens and grays of steamy to tropics one day to the peak of autumn the next. how lucky are we! Our Red Leaf Maples at home are really earning their name today...they are like emergency flares set upright in my front yard...I can see them from almost all the windows in the front...against the gray sky...dynamite!