For about a week, the maple basked in the sunshine and to stand beneath it was to be surrounded by gold.
By Thursday, Nov. 5, the leafy branches were thinning, but the color was still good. I took this photo that day from two back yards away, and got barked at by my neighbor's three dogs for my trouble. As the weekend warmed, the leaves began to fall anyway.
A view from our front walk, up the neighbor's driveway, shows how huge the tree is. Since it's not on the street, it is kind of a hidden treasure. We have been working on planting bulbs in the front wall beds, and tidying up the perennials for winter.
Our mighty oak in front has lost almost all of its leaves, and Norm has composted a lot of them. Every year, a sweet gum ball sprouts in the crevasses of the oak's massive roots, and grows a little tree. This one turned a lovely shade of red, and contrasted nicely with the gray bark.
I was so amazed at how many leaves covered the driveway and yard in back, despite all the leaves still on the maple, so I took this picture on Nov. 5, too. Well, less than a week later, today almost all of the leaves are off the tree, and there are ankle- and knee-deep drifts of golden leaves all over, including our northern neighbor's yard. He likes his yard neat so he has been doing a lot of sweeping and raking. Norm is working on our pile with a new leaf blower/ vacuum we bought Saturday at Home Depot, after the old one flickered, gasped and died. By the end of the week, our friend Raymond will probably come and finish them off.
Tomorrow we will get a visit from Ava, who will stay until Friday. Barb is going to KC and Wichita. Doug and Matt went to Baltimore this weekend to see friends and celebrate Doug's birthday. One of these days, we just might go somewhere!
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