Fall in Fairbanks

I was home alone, working on the cabinet doors for the kitchen. It had been a rainy week and I was spending most of my weekend indoors working on our long remodeling project. The leaves had ripened to their perfect fall splendor and I was hoping that soon I would be able to capture the few moments that it would look this way.

It was September 11th. The 10th anniversary documentaries were on TV and it seemed that the commemorations were well thought out and well put together. I listened, and occasionally looked, as our nation was recounting what had happened a decade ago.

I was beginning to feel cooped up in our apartment when suddenly, the sky opened up to offer abundant sunshine. I dropped what I was doing and went to one of my favorite places.

The following pictures are from the trails at the Wedgewood Wildlife Refuge.

Creamer's Field, Fairbanks.

A few spindly Black Spruce are surrounded by Birch (trunks in the foreground) and aspen (brighter trunks to the left at distance).

I arrived in time to see millions of leaves gently fall to the earth.

The small red and black dots in the distance are a jogger and her Black Lab.

Wander Lake, Fairbanks - a part of the wildlife refuge.

The bright spot in my day.

Birch and aspen leaves are collected on a spruce bough.

The forest floor was bursting with color.

Some of the finest details can be found right at our feet.

The things that make me go "hmm."

...the details...

Autumn is but a brief moment in our neck of the woods.