In the Village Where I Live

If you follow the Yellow Brick Road you can travel the Tomorrow River trail down by the pond. Actually, I just thought it would be fun to say that; one needn’t really follow Yellow Brick Road since it winds through a hilly subdivision built by Blenker that is really off the beaten path. Regardless, it offers some striking beauty this wonderfully crisp fall day. A few intrepid figures are off in the distance hiking the Tomorrow River trail but our paths don’t cross. This section is at milepost 12; since I didn’t pay for the trail pass I merely saunter a few hundred yards looking for color with my camera.

What a blissfully tranquil day it is here. I am taken with the wild (what I think is called) sumac. It shines in various fall colors, offering up deep garnet reds, vivid yellows and even neon oranges. I think I want some for my landscape—they are bushy shrubs but can get quite tall and be trained into a tree. Although they are pretty all year round, they appear to be the harbinger of fall, as they are the first to offer color.

Before visiting our pond I drove by Emily Lake Park but the colors there were just beginning. With summer winding down the last of the docks and pontoon boats have yet to be pulled from the lake and there were several RV campers already pulling in for the weekend’s camping--it has been such spectacular weather and is due to remain so for one last hurrah.