Taking a walk with Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle around our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood in my shorts and T-shirt, I noticed the dog panting and myself working up a good sweat.
The browns are creeping ahead of the greens on this Syracuse, N.Y., tree.
So I stopped to snap a snot of the tree above with my iPhone 4, foremost to give the dog a breather and also to remind myself that tomorrow, the calendar turns to October. It’s been autumn officially for more than a week now. I thought we were going to have an early fall because I’d spotted the first burst of color in our foliage in the middle of August.
Still hanging onto the colors of summer.
And yet immediately next door on the block one over from the home I share with my dear wife Karen and our beloved rescue mutt was this pretty garden, hanging on to its colors of summer for all it’s worth.
That’s one of the wonders of upstate New York this time of year, I always discover anew, somehow and some way.
Fall comes and summer lingers. And they’re both beautiful in their own ways.
What signs of summer and autumn do you see coexisting where you live? What would be your perfect temperature as September gives way to October? Pick a color: Green, yellow, red or brown.
Mark Bialczak 
I miss the leaves changing from cool green to warm autumn colors. I’ll even miss the FIRST snow. After that, all bets are off. Indian summer is underway? That’s a great time as well. My perfect temperature is in the mid to low-70s. I like it cool. I’m just thankful that – so far – hurricane season has passed us by. That’s always a scary time for me. 😉
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I hesitate to call it Native Amerian Summer, Judy, because we’ve yet to have the first frost! But yes, it’s been 70s, even 80, in the daytime. It’s supposed to go to 60s, 50s soon.
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No sign of fall here in Houston, but I enjoy seeing everyone’s pictures. Your photo opps are right around the corner, I bet. Three cheers for some cooler weather, but hold off on the bitter cold for a while, is my hope for you and Karen.
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Thank you for your wishes. No bitterness yet, I so agree, Aud. I hope you get some chilly-willy down Houston way, though, because it is October. 🙂
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Yes, it is October. Full steam ahead, unfortunately. 🙂
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I will tell you it will be a ‘cooler’ weekend, Mark! I am excited about the leaves changing, have seen a few yellows and some red fire bushes. No trees turning red yet which answers your question: Red is my favorite of the colors of Fall, Mark! I love red maple trees, picking up red leaves and enjoy red/maroon, burnt orange mums. Smiles for getting me excited about the colors changing, Mark!
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Red is an exciting fall color, I agree Robin. Yay!
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The leaves falling some turning yellow others orange. The air with a chillin upper 50’s to the mid 60’s enough to excite me to know winter was soon approaching. Soon bringing daylight savings time. This is my season I love everything about it.
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Remember when we used to change the clocks right about now, Oct. 1, Kim? Enjoy your cool season, my friend.
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Yes now we have to wait until November. 😦
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RED! 😀 Thank you for asking. I’ve been saying for ages here that we are going to have a cold winter because besides it being extra hot this summer, we are having more ants in the house (not just me but several people I know). And when that happens (and when a dirty kitchen is NOT the reason), that usually means a cold winter. Hopefully you’re sending some of your coolness down here and we’ll send you some warmth. 🙂
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Good barter system, Rachel. Deal.
I also think nature sends you signs season ahead about what’s to come. The ants come marching. Uh-oh. Up here, the squirrels are gathering more acorns than usual.
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Yep, that’s another good sign. I’d much prefer squirrels to ants in the house! 😉
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The leaves have begun to fall on both of my trees, but still no acorns. That hasn’t discouraged the squirrels from their foraging ways, though….
For the past week temps have been in the 80’s during the day, and the low 60’s at night. Perfect weather for year round if you ask me…
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For year-round, I would go with 78 daytime, 68 evenings. When do we move, ESN?
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We have summer temps and winter scenery. The drought has been intense and the trees haven’t gotten enough rain to change color. The leaves are all dying. Orange for the color, it photographs well. Definitely sunny and 80 for temps.
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In Syracuse, lack of water is not an issue. Knock wood for that, of course. We have had dry spells and it is super scary. People here vote for orange because of the name of the university sports teams. Leave-wise, I go for red. I think that also photgraphs well. I wish you rain, Apple Pie.
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I love Fall, and sorry about this Mark, but my fave color is orange. Maybe consider it a mix of yellow and red and it won’t be as painful to think about. And since that is also the color for MS it gives me double the urge to see and wear my color.
My perfect day would be temp in the upper 60 low 70 range, with humidity around 65%, sun shining, breeze blowing, trees turning beautiful colors, and some crisp apples and a good book in my lap while I sit under a tree outside. Unfortunately, around here the trees are just turning brown and losing their leaves this year, and while the nights are pleasantly cool, the days are still hot. Perfection just isn’t in the picture at this time, and the dark stays too long in the morning and comes too early at night.
And early Monday, in the dark, some young fools at UK blew their scholarships by firing air rifles in the darkness outside one of the resident halls, shutting the campus down for the day while the police searched for possible “terrorists” trying to kill people on campus. Some kind of Autumn madness gone wrong for the guys who did the deed, but at least they came forward when they realized they were the cause of the uproar, and are now awaiting the arrival of parents, before hearing the University decision. Police charges were mild, but U. charges will probably be expulsion, at least according to my daughter, married to the Chief Of Staff at the U. What a waste!
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Orange it is, for you and your MS cause, my friend.
I too am lamenting shorter daylight in general, though I am no fan of the extended (and perpetually misnamed) Daylight Savings Time. Give me the light in the morning.
Awful event at U of K. Think before you act with anything that resembles a weapon in this day and age, young people. We are terrorist-high-alert always. Dang. I hope they did not ruin their lives, Angie.
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I hiked on Tuesday and everything was green. Returned on Sunday to the same place, entire trees were brown. Leaves covered the ground and trees are starting to reveal their new paint. I love. Love. Love. Fall.
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That’s a quick change, Colleen. Wow! Too quick, or normal, I’m wondering.
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I know, I saw one whole hill of trees that were just brown. Yucky brown. Kind of worried me. But David thinks it was the kind of tree. NOT that we are being robbed of fall colors, like I feared. 🙂
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Some trees don’t get too colorful. I think David is correct, Colleen. 🙂
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🙂 He loves being right so this is appreciated. I was surprised though at the dullness of that entire hill.
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I pick the color red!
The signs of fall are already all around me because I’ve decorated for Halloween already….I have no patience. Although it’s 85 and sunny here today in Nashville, I prefer a crisp 70 degrees with zero humidity and full sun for day one of October!
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I would love to grant you that Oct. 1 wish, CBXB, ye of no patience!
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Right outside my bedroom window I can see the fall colors in a bush right behind our still blooming tomato garden. 🙂 I love October but I fear what comes next! My joints shutter at the thought of the first frost. Brickhouse is not a happy chick during the winter. Sigh.
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Sorry to hear that the colder months carry an extra burden for your RA, Mrs. B. Ouch. Enjoy the fall colors now, though. 🙂
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Summer does not linger in Minnesota, though we did have a nice bit of warmth and sunshine over the weekend. But cooler weather this week (mid 50s) and we’ll be heading into winter anytime now. Fall and spring are fleeting here. Lots of trees, though, so lots of color changing. And the dry leaves on the ground? One of my two favorite sounds is crunching over them on runs. (the other favorite sound is a tennis ball bouncing on a court–do you have favorite sounds?)
Orange.
Happy fall 😀
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Those are great favorite sounds, Liz.
Yes, of course I do. My driver connecting solidly into the golf ball. My dear wife Karen’s laugh at one of life’s silly jokes. The slight crowd buzz from the Saturday morning youth football game two blocks over as it carries through the fall air to my back porch.
Let’s go orange.
May your fall linger a little while. 🙂
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So pretty! We’ll be in the 90s all week, so a nice brisk low-humidity 75 would be lovely. I’d just as soon keep the leaves green and on the trees. That way, I don’t have to rake them (low chance of that anyway) and I can block out my neighbor’s porches. That’s the sad thing about bare trees: no blocking out all those neighbors. Looking forward to October!
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Hmmmm. So hot, still, in Austin. Goodness. I didn’t realize you had over-neighbor-eyes besides. Sigh. Stay up, leaves.
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Dark red or yellow, and upper 50s and sunny is my ideal weather. Today is near 80 and the trees are in the halfling stage, including some where exactly half the tree is changing because of where the sun hits it. Eventually they will all fall prey to the chlorophyll dryout.
How does the flamingo grow? 😀
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I think the flamingo grows straight into the box in the garage, Jeanette! I like the half-and-half look you sport in Richmond, by the way …
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Mark, I’m so jealous that you’re still wearing shorts! Although fall in the east, Montreal, Ottawa was splendid in colour as I am assuming is true of Syracuse as well, I can’t wait to see your pictures of fall in full colour! I pick RED and I pick summer, can I do that? 😉
When I lived in Montreal, fall was my favourite season. Summer was way too humid and hot there. Here in the west, summer is mostly dry and is rarely too hot. Fall seems to pass quickly here in browns and yellows, followed quickly by bare trees and winter.
Diana xo
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You can pick summer and red, Diana, of course! Yes, Montreal and Syracuse have similar weather and fall colors. You are correct. We can get humid, too, but I have lived in much worse than this. The Washington, D.C., area, now that went over 90 in humidity and temperature (F) in May and stayed over it until mid-September. I found those summers oppressive, so I know what you mean. Here is a cool breeze in comparison, so everything is relative. 🙂
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“Fall comes and summer lingers” – beautifully put, Mark.
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Thank you, Mimi. I hope you are enjoying beauty on the mountain.
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Heading up there this weekend! Can’t wait to see the leaves beginning to offer up their fall colors!!
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Have a great trip, and I hope you catch an eyeful, Mimi!
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Happy Fall my friend..
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And to you, too, down there in Texas, my friend! 🙂
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My favorite fall color is yellow. It seems to have a hint of the transitory to its nature – much like the season. The squirrels are scurrying around here burying their nuts everywhere – a very Fall type behaviour. And yet yesterday it was warm here as well – actually the perfect temperature of about 21 celcius (room temp – about 72 F) with bright sunshine and a light breeze. Some trees are still all green and yet the somem are in the process of changing colors to red and yellow. I can stand in one spot and look one way and see summer, turn and look the other way and see fall. It is rather interesting. I really enjoy this type of weather Mark, although it is often short lived. Great Post sir.
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Sounds just like my blocks here, Paul, part fall, part summer. And I think you are correct, we will have a cold day and all that will change like-that! Enjoy the warm while it’s here. Thanks for your always sharp observations, my friend.
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Love this post, Mark, but why didn’t you give orange as a choice of color?
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I think it was the sloppy play in the loss to Notre Dame, Ann.
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Pain can definitely affect our choices, Mark.
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it will come, it will come. in it’s own time.when you have a cold snap, the leaves will change, and it will turn. fall is my fav season and i love every day of it. my ideals – 60-70 )
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Yes, And that can be any day now, Beth.
Sorry about your Wolverines and all that Brady Hoke misery and controversy on putting the injured QB back into the game. ((
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thanks, mark and i think it is awful. i would not want my child to play for a coach that doesn’t seem to care about their health. time for a change. you cannot even believe the mood in ann arbor these days –
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That poor child being thrown back into the game after that crushing hit. If I was his mama, I’d be in jail right now for assaulting the coach. They won’t fire him, but they certainly should. I sure hope the QB is ok.
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Brady Hoke sounds so confused about so many things. His default statement this week has been “I didn’t …” … get told by the trainers … see the play … know he got hit in the head … hear the crowd booing when I put him back in the game.
Enough. Somebody has to tell him thank you for your service, you will be paid the remainder of your contract, good luck in your next position. Michigan is a classy university that does things correctly. I hope that continues.
And yes, Apple Pie, I like your protective instincts very much.
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I wake up, it’s dark. I get home from work, it’s dark. Now begins my vampire existence. I’m taking the kiddies to Orlando in November. I’m hoping I don’t get burned to a crisp when a beam of sunlight hits my arm.
I lived in Phoenix for 18 months and found the lack of seasons maddening. Who doesn’t want fall in their lives?!
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Don’t get crispy-crittered in Orlando when bringing the kids down for November break, Mark. We Northeast vampires have to be super careful about that. I pine for the lack of daylight from November to February.
To me, the six years I lived in Maryland had the seasonal spin just about right. The nice stuff lasted about one month longer on each end than up here, but all four were still quite individual.
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This time of year always reminds me of Joni Mitchell’s “Urge for Going.” The lyrics are Summer, herself, telling us that it’s time to go. Beautiful! Nice photos, Mark.
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It’s always a good season to appreciate Joni, Barbara. Thanks for your kind words regarding my iPhone photography.
I just commented on Mark (Exile’s) comment about Arizona’s lack of seasons how Maryland had a month nicer on each side. And as I recall from trips to Charlottesville and Harrisonburg, your Virginia had even a bit more than that. Enjoy, my friend.
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