I saw a red tree today. You may find it funny for me to mention that on a crisp November day. But in a place where trees are too scarce to mention, finding one with leaves other than green ones is a rare and special treat. I had almost forgotten it was fall. Every now and then, we have a nice cool day smushed up in between a hot one and a freezing one. And today was one of those days. It has taken me several years to get used to the fact that there can actually be a place in the world that is completely void of some of my favorite things in life–a long stretch of cool fall weather, brilliant displays of colorful trees in October, and crunchy paths to kick through in November.
Haul It In
At first I was fooled by the town’s disguise. As soon as Wal-mart puts out Christmas candy, everyone starts dumping truckloads of hay bails, pumpkins, and scarecrows all over their front lawns. I thought, “How charming! The people are so into fall!” But I soon realized the hard and ugly truth: the only way we will ever see fall color is to buy it and haul it in. We go straight from hundred-degree weather morning, noon and night to 30s and 40s in the mornings. No kidding. In two weeks time we’re boxing up the shorts and donning flannel. And that’s why I’ve begun to call fall in the southwest The First Winter. The few leaves that we do have go into shock the first morning they wake up frozen, and instead of morphing us into what the rest of the world calls autumn, they turn brown and jump off the trees. You will find a token Japanese Maple or two as you drive down Main Street, but really you have to kind of stare pretty hard and squint your eyes to get any real “fall color” to pop out of the landscape.
But at least we have the pumpkins. The First Winter, where we wake up to frozen windshields but bask in the afternoon sun, sort of breaks us in for the harder Second Winter, where frostbite threatens at the very thought of setting foot outdoors. I shudder at the thought of what is quickly approaching. I guess I should be relishing in this colorless fall after all.
