I like living here in Hattiesburg. I really do, but I miss autumn. In South Mississippi, we have spring with splendid azaleas. Following quickly, we head into lots of summer with wildflowers and abundant blossoms of all kinds in our pots and flower beds. Even the weeds bloom! We have about three weeks of winter. Nandina and holly sport green leaves and red berries for several months, but we skip fall altogether though the asters and chrysanthemums may make a brief appearance to let us know what we are missing.
Entering December, I realized we have once again skipped from hot to cold in November with only a few days’ tease of perfect cool weather. Leaves falling like rain showers have omitted anything colorful for the most part and turned directly from green to brown. My memories of the hill country of North Mississippi kick in as I watch the green lawn receive its brown cover, especially the years when I commuted to Ole Miss to finish my degree. A round trip of ninety miles a day took my car-pooling friend Margaret and me up and down the rolling hills of a two-laned highway lined with blazing deciduous color interspersed with green shades of the evergreens. I’ve been to New England in the fall and the spectacle was no better.
Granddaughter Marissa Lane has taken up photography. If you are a regular reader, you may remember her photograph from my blog, “Loving the Light.” After I used that photo, she asked me if I would like any other pictures, and I requested pictures of fall. I do get a yearning for autumn color, hence my wish from Marissa. The pictures on this blog are her answer to that request. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. They seem the next best thing to having fall.