the Scattered Journalist: Hello, Autumn!

Finally. Autumn has arrived! As if there were any doubt that she was coming! This year, however, was brutal and many of us were craving her return early. By the middle of July, we had just had it! The hot weather came on the heals of our nonexistent winter. Spring was dry; the rains forgot to come at all. So when we got to summer's end, our gardens were dry to the bone; dead, really.

In Yosemite last year, the autumn colors were pretty much on schedule but we had no idea what Mother Nature had in store for us that first week in October! We were walking the Valley early one morning and in the distance, just across the road from the Chapel, we spied a speck of color tucked behind the evergreens.

We walked slowly as if we might frighten it away.

As we approached the trees, more color peeked out at us.

We walked quietly.

As we got closer, we could see the skirt of the tree.

We could not believe the color of the leaves! This is a Sugar Maple tree. It is not native to Yosemite. Seeds must have been dropped by a resident critter. They might just have sailed in on a lovely afternoon breeze. But, they decided to let it stay. Each year, visitors come by the bus load, and more times than not, the bus drivers pull over so the visitors can get out and take oodles of pictures. Just like we did!

We made several visits to this tree last year. The colors seemed to become deeper and more vibrant each time we passed by.