Fall Foliage Forerunner

During my canoe outing last week I noticed that many of the maples ringing Rock Pond were beginning to blush red, purple, orange. And this afternoon I noticed this first fall foliage forerunner on a deck chair cushion, colors so exaggerated as if unreal.

But real it was, and real it is, a clarion call announcing cooler days ahead.

Then I noticed that several of our own sugar maples have begun to change color. The deepest greens ripening toward red, albeit only a hint here and there. These outliers a vanguard inevitable and unstoppable.