We’re having a wet, warm, and muted fall in which the funereal flaring of the leaves seems to lack the color-saturated vibrancy of prior years.
Moreover, the durations of those displays often are cut short by rains that strip the trees bare before they can be appreciated in totality as masterpieces – sturdy trunks, complex branches, colorful leaves.
On the other hand, the sodden fallen leaves provide a colorful mosaic stage for the still-green mosses and ferns that remain vibrant from the rains and cool (but above-freezing) temperatures.
In the darker parts of the woods, mushrooms run rampant or collect in seemingly gleeful clusters; it’s their favorite kind of weather.
(Images taken in North Sedgwick and Brooklin, Maine, on October 8, 14 and 21, 2023.)