Fall in New Orleans

Many of you live in places where the weather changing from summer to fall is bold, and obvious.

Here Fall is subtle.
The humidity drops.
The breezes blow.
The air is more active.

Some of the summer flowers that have died back in the heat of Summer return.
The Roses bloom again. The Chrysanthemums bud.
The Basil seeds that fell to the ground in the heat of summer, sprout.
The Lion's Tail blooms. The Camellias bud.
The Figs put out their second crop.
The Kumquats grow plumper and, later in the season, start to get orange.

The Live Oaks here are essentially evergreen.
But the Sycamore drops its large, brown, plate like leaves.
The Bald Cypress will begin to slowly
let is soft carpet of needles cover the ground.
The Crepe Myrtle leaves begin to turn blood red and slowly drop.
It will take months to before all the leaves are gone.

The light changes.
There is less of it, fewer hours.
The angle of the light is different and
so it is more likely to be polarized by the clouds.
Things brighten as a result of this polarized light.
Colors are more vibrant.
It’s a great deal like the flush of life that precedes human death.