It’s amazing how fast the trees turn color after a single frost. Walking down a quiet country road is a good time to enjoy the changes.

Black walnuts leaf out late and drop their leaves early. The frost hurried them along. Swirls of yellow leaves blew down looking like a yellow snow storm.

After weeks of calm weather, the winds have returned. Standing on a quiet country road is a time to hear the wind rustling through the drying leaves. The sound is a slow rush punctuated by dropping leaves plopping onto the road.

Black walnuts thud into the grass. On the road the walnuts smash down, muddy rocks hitting a brick wall.

A few lizards still dart off. The leaves make it impossible for their speedy flight to be silent.

So many adventure books about Indians mention moving silently through the forest. The Ozarks people get a good laugh at that. Nothing moves quietly through the falling leaves.

People love noise or it seems so. Their vehicles are loud. The quieter ones have radios blaring.

Having time to enjoy the quiet country road is special. Fall leaves pave the road. Trees range from green to bronze with yellow popular now. The reds are getting a good start.

The creek swishes now as it washes leaf blankets along. Many of the leaves sink down to create warmer places for the fish over the winter.

Squirrels crash through the leaves as they leap along carrying walnuts up to hiding places in the trees. Other times the squirrel stops to eat and teeth skritch on the hard hull.

Walking down a quiet country road listening to the wind in the trees, watching the leaves swirl down, scattering birds out of the giant ragweed where they are eating seeds, admiring the color in the trees almost makes fall a special time of year. If only winter wasn’t hiding in the wings.

Enjoy the Ozarks through photographs and haikus in “My Ozark Home“.