Fall Rainbows

After several days of Indian Summer, that period of lingering, teasing, warmth after first frosts, fall reasserted itself with evening squalls and this rainbow heralding a cold front predicted to bring more frost over the next several days. Much of our early foliage color has passed in the valleys, those deep maple reds and ash purples highlighted with deep oranges, all standing out against a background of still-green leaves. The rich color rises into the hills, but not yet halfway up, as the valleys suffer the first frosts.
An almost constant rain of leaves coats lawns and clogs gutters. Perhaps half of the backyard choke cherry leaves are gone, and the front maple no longer occludes the noon sun. Tomorrow my 1968 Gravely and I will mulch another coating into the lawn. We don't rake.