Fall comes down

Last night the frost hit hard. This morning as we lay in bed and looked out the window at the brilliant leaves lit up by the rising sun, there came a moment where they began to fall discreetly one by one. One moment we were looking at a still life; then as if a switch had been thrown, they began to fall. Anywhere you looked for longer than two or three seconds a leaf would cross your sight, descending in erratic spirals.



By the time we got up, got dressed, and went outside the ground was carpeted.












We all went for a walk. The kids kicked the leaves around for awhile. Then one of them remembered a book we'd read just the other day where a boy spots the last remaining leaf on a tree, and believing that it is good luck to catch the last one before it touches the earth, he waits patiently for the leaf to fall. After awhile his friends lose interest and abandon the project, but the boy persists, attended by his dog.


Tess and Colm decided that they too would try to catch a lucky leaf as it fell.















They spent the rest of walk with their eyes cast upwards and, occasionally, their arms outstretched.





















The leaves came down, softly, crazily. Nearly all of them found the earth. A few landed in our kids' hands. I even caught a couple on camera. (Click on the images for a larger view)
K