Autumn Aura

First published on October 17, 2010.  Here it is as we end October and move into really cold November with sleet and snow.  Here is how warm looking it can be even in October!

Sada Mohalla (Punjabi). Vårt grannskap (Swedish). Nuestro barrio (Spanish). Our neighborhood. See those Orange leaves??

They indicate autumn. The stubborn green ones are still holding on. Normally, this street is filled with children running up and down. Playing hopskotch. In spring and summer, you will often find huge drawings on the street, with colored chalks. Since I know only a few words in Swedish, every time I see the kids I say, 'Hej, Hej', meaning hello. Hej Då (good bye). Vi sees! (see ya).

Notice the berries here. They are not edible, but they do have another purpose. Soon as the tree starts to shed, the remaining berries stand out. The number berries is an indicator of the strength of winter. The higher number of berries the colder the winter.

I still do not know the name of this tree. I have noticed that in many countries. I often ask what tree or flower is this. People just shrug. And then we worry about our environment. We need to be taught these things in schools. Although I am told that they have something of the sort in Sweden. Where school kids are taken in the woods and taught about plants, all the time learning to not be afraid of getting their hands dirty.

And so the leaves are quickly leaving us. Here a leaves-poor tree tries to smile back through a few colorful leaves. Every time I see leaves clinging to branches, fluttering in the wind, I think of 'The Last Leaf.', a story by O' Henry.

Now this is color. I have to say, that colors here are not as rich as that I have seen in Pennsylvania or Virginia or New York. May be its different outside of Karlstad it is different, but here the cold came in too quickly. So much so that the the trees you see in the following picture, taken barely a week ago, are already bald now :((

We are expecting snow this thursday!! Please visit us......:))