Leaf Peeping

Apparently, we are just about to experience one of nature's many bursts of color! Because we had such a gross, rainy spring, Mother Nature has decided to reward us with a beautiful display of fall leaves! It's supposed to be the most colorful in recent memory. Areas with hills and valleys are allegedly the "most flashy", and you know I love anything flashy!

There is a line of sugar maples behind my building, and every fall I enjoy watching them turn bright red. Sure, I get excited about the yellows and oranges, but the bright red is what really gets me excited. Now I also have the added benefit of pointing them out to my Canadian boyfriend, expecting him to be as excited as I am by this symbol of his country (he plays along for the first few times and then generally starts rolling his eyes). My parents have a few "burning bushes" in their backyard that also turn bright red, and I definitely plan to have some of those in my yard when I grow up.

I still get most excited about the trees that bloom pink, red, and purple in the spring, but the few weeks of color we get in the fall is great, before everything turns gray and desolate looking. As pretty as those fall leaves look on the trees, it's depressing to watch some busted brown leaf get blown down the sidewalk by the wind. Then again it's pretty funny because the pup likes to chase those leaves... so I guess the jury's still out on discarded leaves.

I also have to say, I don't have a single memory of being a kid and raking leaves into a pile just to jump into them. This seems very pointless. And I don't think the leaves would break your fall that much, to make it any better than jumping on the bed. And when you jump on the bed, there isn't a very real possibility of bugs being all over the thing you're jumping on, unless of course you have bedbugs, in which case: also gross.

The leaves are supposed to "peak" in the Twin Cities over the next few weeks; here is a guide to leaf colors throughout the state for your "leaf peeping" pleasure!