Fleeting fall colors seem to be the new normal here. When I chose the pictures for “My Ozark Home”, I went back through ten to fifteen years of pictures for all of the seasons and fall has changed.
When we moved here, a cold spell moved in around Labor Day. It rarely brought more than a touch of frost, but the cold nights triggered the leaves. Day by day the yellows and oranges overtook the greens on the hills.

By the time the temperatures warmed up for the rest of September, the hills were a riot of color. The fields were still emerald green which set off the colors. Clear blue skies and sunshine did the rest.
I’m not a big fan of fall as it means winter is coming soon. But those glowing colors were spectacular.
The weather changed. It has changed a lot in the five or six years.
That early September cold spell waits until late in the month. The trees stay green. Then frost hits and the wind roars through.

This year the temperatures stayed in the seventies and eighties until a cold spell brought killing frost. Suddenly the trees were dropping their leaves, still green. Those leaves left on the trees tried to turn color.
Wind and a second real killing frost stripped half the leaves off the trees. Fleeting fall colors are trying to hang on and mask the bare branches on the hills. Most of the leaves turned brown from the frost and fell mixed with still green leaves.

The goats are gorging on the leaves and acorns. They pick out the succulent green leaves and turn their noses up at the brown ones. Even so, the pastures are still green and growing and better eating than the leaves.
Much as I hate the approach of winter weather, I miss those spectacular color displays. Fleeting fall colors can’t mask or distract from the end of warm weather.
Visit the seasons in “My Ozark Home“.