Pink Leaves?

Here's a new color for leaves; pink! Pink? Yesterday I worked the "morning shift" (which was highlighted when my friend Rachel from Granite Falls came in to say hello and my other friends Kathy and her sister Mary stopped in to buy a new bike!) and then came home to have a late lunch with Sydney (!) before heading out on a late afternoon/early evening ride. That "time" is alot earlier now than it was a few weeks ago, as the sun sets quite a bit earlier now than it did then. The funny thing is the day gets warmer (here) in the afternoon. In the Bay area, I always had to try and get my ride in early, as the ocean breezes/fog generally start blowing in after 3pm. Here, the wind (generally) quits blowing in the evening and the day is warmer. I'm still adjusting to a different clock.

After a pleasant afternoon with the small hound, I suited up in warm enough clothes (in the 60's with light breezes from the East) and headed West. In this part of the country you get the sunrise and the sunsets because there are no mountains (sigh) blocking anything, in any direction, for miles and miles. I love to ride with the sun in my eyes.

I detoured into Camden and as I meandered through the park, glints of sunlight were lighting up all the leaves on the trees. We're not at peak yet here in southwestern Minnesota, but we're getting close. The reds and yellows and oranges are beginning to turn, and then I saw the color pink. Wow, pink? I took my sunglasses off. The sun-shining through the dense leaves had turned some of the paler shades to pink. Wow! Cool, huh?

The air is definitely crisper. Cleaner. The corn and soybeans and sugar beets are almost completely cut down. It's amazing how far you can see when all the farming is mowed away. The very black soil is showing again. There are even a couple of new hounds that chase me. I guess the corn stalks were hiding me from their sight, but now I stand out like McGuire-colored target practice! Sigh.

I saw a guy walking a big black pig on a leash! There's a first for everything. I guess this will be my first real winter ever. Imagine that? Happy Tuesday! (Hey Lenno-Prion...don't forget to call me today!)