As Pete Seeger so brilliantly sang with lyrics quoted from the book of Ecclesiastes, “To everything, (turn, turn, turn), there is a season, (turn, turn, turn).” It’s no secret that I’m a lover of leaves. I’m a lover of life too and the circle in which it so rhythmically turns. I look forward to the seasons changing all year round and get so excited for Autumn that sometimes I feel like a kid going on vacation when I see those first trees start to change their colors. I’ve even adopted the moniker #crazyleaflady because I post so many pictures of changing leaves on Instagram and Facebook. There is something so magical about the autumn to me. As I was hiking with my dear friend Tamera through a trail in Stone Valley (Colton, NY), I had, as Oprah would call it, an “ah ha” moment. 

     Ever since I was a very little girl, I have loved “The Wizard of Oz.” I love how Dorothy wakes up from her dreary black and white slumber into a land of grand and glorious color and it truly feels like she’s up, over and on the other side of the rainbow. Well that’s kind of what Autumn feels to me. Like I’ve awoken into a Technicolor paradise of rainbow colored trees. The smells that come along with the season are some of my all-time favorite. Pumpkin, apple, cinnamon, and even the way grass starts to smell differently as it prepares for winter is just a glorious assault on my senses. 

     I know I didn’t appreciate this nearly enough as a child growing up in Upstate New York, but I’m certainly appreciating it now. I enjoy the way nature uses this time for transition between the warmth of summer and the bitter cold of winter. There is something to be said for being a “planner” and Mother Nature definitely has it down pat. 

     Now that we’ve crossed into the “snow portion of our program” and Winter is coming, in a threat made all the more real thanks to Game of Thrones, I can appreciate the beauty that the early fall was and how lovely she’ll be once again. 

    And just when I thought nothing could beat the excitement of watching my two year old twin neighbors finding a perfectly matching set of red and “yewow ” leaves, seeing them in snowsuits for the first time was pretty darn magical. That right there is just “the good stuff”.