Falling Behind

The trees on my street are stunning today. The sugar maples are fully turned with their yellows, oranges and reds, the bradford pears are a rich deep red and the tulip trees and other maples are a very dark golden yellow. The colors are rich and deep.

It won't last, a large percentage of the trees have lost leaves. I'm glad I noticed this morning, it'll be over in the blink of an eye. The combination is a little suprising, too. Usually the maples are long finished before the bradford pears start.

Autumn is late this year, the confluence of serious late summer drought and early fall rains. When I flew in from JournalCon I was astounded at how green everything still looked. I'm glad, though, I'd have hated to miss the show.

I was somewhat amused (but also irritated) to receive a call from the PTA president yesterday. I skipped Tuesday's meeting (I don't need to listen to arguments about withholding teacher appreciation for non-members) and he called (and the 1st VP emailed) to make sure I was not ill. Apparently they all missed the memo where this is a volunteer organization and participation is voluntary. When I was an officer with a job I never missed a meeting. Apparently now I need a note from home if I'm not going to make it. Yeah, right.