Watch out, New England!

Thanks, I presume, to a couple of unseasonably early cold snaps, we have fabulous fall color these days around here. Honestly, probably not to rival NE too closely, but, for here, it's astounding! [Full disclosure: I did just have cataract surgery, so it's possible that the colors on view the last couple of falls were muted by the slow clouding of my old, natural lenses. The new cyborg ones are pretty sweet!]

The photo above was taken on our street, and the gloriously golden trees on the right are our very own cedar elms. Aren't they impressive?! They always look pretty nice in the fall, but this year, like many other trees in the hood, they've outdone themselves.

Here's a closer look at one...

...and as you can see, their brilliant gilding blends very nicely with some of my neighbors' reds, not to mention the greens of the guys that don't dress up for fall...

What's even more wondrous, last night we had a little rain and wind. So this morning there's a veritable yellow brick road up our front sidewalk...

...and on up the steps of our porch...

But wait! There's more! [flash to cheesy infomercial announcer voice  ]. I know I've written about our neighbor's ornamental pear tree before (history and pix can be found here, along with some other fall color snaps). But nothing prepared me for the brilliant carpet I found on our driveway this morning...

I don't think these leaves have ever been so vibrant! (removal of cataracts notwithstanding)

I think my little camera did a pretty good job of capturing this riot of color, but, believe me, there's nothing like standing in the middle of it. I just couldn't quit snapping the shutter...

our back steps

a closeup look at some of the pixels...
doesn't it look like a trendy drink decoration?!

Next time I'll venture further afield and show you some of the color around the neighborhood and countryside.