Autumn has been spectacular this year in New Mexico's high country. Although the intensity of fall color varies depending on elevation and mountain range, crystalline air greets you at every turn.  Yellow, orange, and red leaves fall in your hair and at your feet, impossible to ignore.  Walking through dry leaves is one of the great joys of the season.  The leaves that have defied the wind and rain, remaining firmly attached to the trees, resemble hanging gumdrops.  A zoom lens is handy, bringing the scene closer when private property, fences, cattle, and significant distances seem to hinder the photographic process.

aspen gumdrops-2

With the Taos Wool Festival still fresh in our minds, I cannot help but see the aspen trunks as warp on a loom.

aspen weaving

The incline of the trunk on this lone specimen says something about the prevailing winds.

aspen shaped by wind

Humans tend to leave their mark everywhere.  I do wonder if the love remained after 1996...

love still there?

I hope you are able to drink in the rarified mountain air this week and feel the leaves crunch beneath your feet.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image@