Autumn Notes in the Rocky Mountains

The earthy smell of pine logs burning in a fireplace.

Splashes of brilliant aspen groves highlighting dark evergreen forests.

Powdered sugar dusting of snow on bald rocky peaks.

Red apples, orange pumpkins, green acorn squash, and purple Indian corn.

Elk bugling; geese honking.

Thin crystal ice crusting edges of small brooks.

Leaves of every hue drifting, rolling, floating on wind and river currents.

A crispness in the air heightens the senses; autumn has made its entrance upon the seasonal stage of the Rocky Mountains.

Gerald McDaniel, September 2006

{photo by Gerald McDaniel, 2006}