Walking (Wo)Man Walks

As James Taylor sings...

"Well the leaves have come to turning
And the Goose has gone to fly,
And bridges are for burning,
So don't you let that yearning pass you by.
Walking man, walking man walks."

If you live long enough you can think of a lyric for most any situation.

We have mostly oak trees and their leaves don't really turn, except to brown, but the poplars are a nice yellow. And while there are no Geese, the Bee Eaters have flown to Africa for the winter.

Autumn has arrived here in Las Alpujarras. When you live in a brown landscape the transition from summer to autumn is more subtle than in New England, where James Taylor writes his songs. 

New England leaves of autumn

Nevertheless, the season is changing and if you look closely the evidence is there.

The sun doesn't pop over the mountain until nearly 9 o'clock in the morning, and it is dark now soon after 8pm. We are reaching for our fleece in the mornings and evenings, even though we are still wearing shorts and t-shirts during the day. It isn't as hot as it was in August and September, so we are doing a bit more hiking. 

Yesterday we went high in the hills above us and enjoyed several hours without seeing another human. We did see a fox running through the pine trees, and that was magical. Today we walked out our road for a bit and saw views that we miss from the car. Sam took his clippers and trimmed the briars that scrape the car as we drive in and out. I took my camera and tried to capture signs of autumn.

High in the hills above our house

From the high hills

The sun is coming up later each morning

Sam trimming the briars along the road

Thistles have turned from purple to brown

The blackberries are drying up

If you look hard you can find a bit of fall color in the leaves

The rose hips have ripened

Thistles

A Poplar leaf

Chestnuts are almost ready to fall

The pomegranates are getting larger

The baby geckos have grown large enough to climb

The olives have turned from green to purple

And figs have ripened

And at the Cami Hardware store in Orgiva, the fans and pool supplies have been replaced with wood stoves - all the signs are there. Winter is coming.