Gobsmacked

Every year I know it’s going to happen. The change of seasons. The trees change color. You’d think that I’d become blasé. I’m not.

Every year I’m gobsmacked by how spectacular fall in New England is.

maples

 

Isn’t it wonderful to have an excuse to use that word? The colors are really and truly just like this.

oranges

 

Three days ago there was a torrential downpour and the trees shed leaves. Last night was the first serious frost. We’re now past peak. But fields still look like this.

field

Yep, gobsmacked.

Comments:

  1. The natural color of trees! It always surprises and amazes us!! Thank you for sharing this beauty!!!

  2. That is gorgeous! We don’t get that kind of color in San Fran. It is too mild climate-wise.

  3. Our leaves are on the ground now, and now we get to rake them! The ski trails on the mountain are covered with the white stuff now. We are headed into 6 months of winter.

  4. Well I could speak bombastically about the incredible colours I see outside my windows but that would be an exaggeration I`m afraid. We have had such a dry summer and early fall that even with the rains we have recently had, the autumn shades are just not as impressive as all that. But…….yesterday was an AMAZING day: sunny, warm no wind, perfect for re-arranging garden beds and planting spring bulbs, and dreaming….lots of dreaming. :)

  5. We did have remarkable autumn color this year. I especially like the shimmery luminescence of the yellow/pink/oranges.

  6. I remember. There were times driving down Lowell Road in particular that everything seemed to glow and you had the feeling that when the sun went down that the glow would continue. Here in central NC it’s still mostly green with bits of color here and there. When I was buying my house back in ’96 there was an oak just off the deck that was the most incredible red in the month of October. I have never seen that red tree since but every year I have hope. Usually the leaves just turn from green to brown with maybe a few red highlights.

  7. This is my first compete fall in the Pacific Northwest. In my area there are mostly yellows and golds with a few reds and ranges thrown in, but lots of greens still holding on. I think we need more sun and colder temps. (More sun in the pnw… Mm maybe not.)

  8. Terri, I agree, and I think this year was more beautiful than most. It seemed like here in Ontario we had so much red on our trees! And combined with the golds and oranges and greens, it was just so incredible. It doesn’t get old, does it.

  9. It is so unbelievably beautiful….I live in the pacific northwest..and we are still very green…no cold weather yet…:)

  10. Well, I can not say that here in CA , we experience “Gobsmack” – but what a joy to have
    the honor of your brilliant colors. They are breathtaking ! CA,s comfortable climate
    is enjoyable, but can be boring, I so look forward to the cold weather – a little snow …
    Winter @ hencam.com – awesome …
    pw

  11. Being in Central Florida, overpopulated, hot, and, well, close enough for now, we spend many dollars in a year’s time to travel to see such splendor. While there is much in the way of artwork and photography, including my own, there is nothing like seeing it in person, to put one in a much better state of mind.
    It may be just me, but three things that keep me going are autumn colors, the Christmas lights of Gatlinburg, and Hencam. Even in the summer, when hotter than Hades here, a quick glance at the main camera at the breezes blowing the trees around just past the boy’s house give my mind a little ease. Not that it can’t be hot where you are, but there is some solice in that “greener grass on the other side of the fence” philosophy.

  12. I had always thought the fall colors in New England must surely be exaggerated. I thought the ‘leaf peepers’ were off their rockers, spending money to go look at leaves. After all, we have our vine and big leaf maples and aspen in the PNW and arid West, all of which do have wonderful fall foliage. But yeah, when I finally visited New England one autumn, I realized it. was. simply. amazing. and there is nothing else like it that I’ve ever been. Glorious is the only word I can come up with, along with breathtaking. Every autumn when have occasion to I drive across the Cascades and see the vine maples glowing against the dark backdrop of douglas fir and pine, I feel uplifted. I always think that the trees are giving us one last blast of Light before the dark drear of winter sets in, as a sort of promise that the Light will return next spring. It’s a great gift of nature to us humans. And you New Englanders and East Coasters get that much uplift than the rest of us mere mortals. Thanks for sharing.