On the side of my yard there is a hickory tree loaded from top to bottom with golden leaves. The weather has to be just right for this magnificence to occur. The combination of warmish days, and cold nights has been just right this year.
Looking out my office window, I saw this column of gold, a gift, a treasure. A breeze ruffles the leaves and the tree shimmers in the sunlight.

I drove up as close as I could to a small hickory tree growing near the big one and picked some of the branches of golden leaves. There was a pyracantha bush growing by it. It has smallish glossy leaves and bright red berries, and I got a branch of that too. Nature had arranged a mat of pine straw underneath them that looked as if it had been arranged by hand. So perfect. I broke off a branch of pine, and brought them all in and arranged them in a clear cobalt blue vase.

A king couldn't have had a more beautiful sight. The gold and red, and fresh pine scent. Wonderful. Aaaaah

susil