By Pat Gibson (1986)

The daily paper down the hill has been running lots of pictures lately of high dollar clothing from Paris, France, and New York. A lot of the stuff is done up in what they call 'fall colors.' Fall is a colorful time even here above Sulfur Creek where fall is pretty short.

Some falls, like '84 and '86, have deep colors that glow like jewels when the sun shines. Some are like '85 and just fade out like the sky on a hot July evening. If we get a quick frost, when the trees still have leaves on them, the leaves will turn to shades of red, gold and maroon. The oaks are especially beautiful.

The red oak lives up to its name with deep scarlet that almost glows. The small leaves of the cedar elm turn golden as if King Midas had passed this way. If the weather wears on and gradually turns cold, the leaves fade out to buff and brown. Some will have a little yellow in them, but most will just dry up and drop off the trees. The tree knows when it has to pull the sap down to the roots and start working on a new crop of leaves for next year.

A red oak near Long Branch Creek.

  A cedar elm in its fall golden glory.

Along the road, the Bermuda grass is blooming. The grass tassels with their tiny blooms looked like waves of wine brocade. If you ever want to see a beautiful flower, take a magnifying glass and look at a blooming Bermuda grass stem. The flower is as lovely as any orchid and the color is as rare.

On some days in the fall, you don't notice the colors of the trees because the days are cold and gray. You don't expect to see color among the cedars because the dull grayness of the sky. Occasionally, a break in the clouds will light up a stand of trees or the bushes down a draw. It'll bring a smile to the most downhearted when it happens. The fog that we get this time of year makes the colors more vibrant. Wet leaves are shiny and the colors stand out more against the gray of the fog. The moisture of the fog hurries the dropping of the leaves though and helps turn the fallen leaves to good dirt. It lifts the spirits on a damp cold morning to catch a glimpse of a red oak or a sumac in the fog as you drive to work.

The fog gets thick along the creek bottoms' first, then it rises up along the hill sides. Some fall mornings it never gets past the tops of the sycamores on Barton Creek, but that's another story.