Falling for Fall in Utah

This time of year, after having lived in Utah now for a full year as of September 29th, I would expect to feel terribly homesick for New England. I mean, October has always been my favorite month, & not just because it’s my birthday month & there’s Halloween (my favorite holiday) but also because the weather & foliage feel perfect in New England. You can wear sweaters & scarves, boots & knits, woolens & all in earthy autumnal colors I adore. Apple picking, fresh cinnamon-sugar-crusted donuts, mulled cider, cobblers & crisps, jelly jarring, roasted pumpkin seeds… there are all kinds of scents & tastes that accompany the season in delightful ways. Warm lighting & a hearth, candles & blankets all kick off the time of year where hygge becomes even more key to happy living.

So, you can imagine I had been prepared to feel bereft this October, since I didn’t have Park City or a transcontinental move to keep me distracted this year, but surprisingly I’m finding myself more introspective & thoughtful about reimagining the things & people I love in new contexts.

And so I’m happy to report that I’m getting to enjoy much multicolored foliage here in Utah, even if of a different variety than what I’m used to seeing in terms of types of trees & ratios in a traditional New England setting. For example, the copious aspens of Utah provide an overwhelming abundance of yellow into the color palette, something not typically seen in New England. Perhaps the dominance of the maple & oak trees creates those strong accent hues of reds & oranges that the Northeastern foliage characteristically provides? Jumping into leaf piles at my childhood home, the old house on Prospect Street in Lakeport, NH, remains one of my fondest memories as a kid. In our backyard, we had an old-timey, rusted but functional swing-set that I loved to play on, pumping my legs to get really high & then lift off into the air down into a pile of those fall leaves. The leaves I remember most were maple & oak leaves, lots of reds & rust colors.

Even the delicious scent of those musty, decomposing leaves seemed heavenly to me. A scent I wish I could truly capture in a bottle for moments when I need some of that quiet calm that career introverts often crave. That scent brings me back to childhood & happy moments of being in nature.

As you can see in the above images, yellow plays a strong, if not quite dominant, role in the changing fall foliage in the West–at least in Utah, Wyoming, Montana, & Idaho–from what I’ve seen. The nearby Big & Little Cottonwood Canyons appear quite different from other seasons when they’re mostly snow-capped & heavily verdant, green everywhere. The green that remains finds itself in the form of coniferous trees & evergreens, narrow & tall in stature. Given the high altitude, trees appear quite different here. My love for these newer landscapes has been growing exponentially, as I regularly witness scenes that I had only imagined as a child manifest themselves before me–almost magical in a sense. If you’d have asked me ten, five, heck even two, years ago if I’d have seen myself uprooting & moving to Utah, I would have balked at the mere suggestion. How strange that life can move so quickly, that our home can be redefined so swiftly. I really never thought I’d live outside of New England unless I were moving to England, in all honesty.

The appeal of the Old West had a lot to do with my acquiescence with a move.

And, of course, if you’ve read my past blog post on Mount Chocorua & my Nana’s painting, then you understand that colorful, picturesque fall scenery holds an important place in my heart. Maybe I wax poetic during this time of year because some part of me identifies with the trees that reinvent themselves, even if only briefly, in a visual metaphor for life. Perhaps that’s why I’ve long loved the Greek myth of Persephone & Hades… And perhaps that’s why I love the phoenix, reborn out of its own ashes? One of my favorite songs is “32 Flavors” by Ani DiFranco & covered by Alana Davis. One of my favorite set of lyrics:

And god help you if you are a phoenix
And you dare to rise up from the ash
A thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy
While you are just flying past

Maybe I just love things that bounce back & return better than before, despite a seeming appearance of desolation on the surface? Rebirth, transformation, reinvention, evolution, adaptation, & the good old standby of fellow Catholic dogma–transubstantiation. As an 80s kid, perhaps this is why I loved the Transformers so much?

As I bring this blog post to a close, I’ll leave you with some images to stir your love of western fall foliage. Yet, I also challenge the reader to think about the beauty that can spring out of death–by this, I mean that as these trees, grasses, shrubs, scrubby growth, heath, etc., change hue & their desiccated leaves or vegetation die off people admire that process in its aesthetic. Can we then, too, find beauty in the process of maturation & self-evolution of identity?

We can develop the ability to feel happiness, for example. It’s actually a skill you can hone to feel happy. This is a liberating & inspiring thing to learn here & now in my 40s. That just because I was a serious, introspective, skeptical child in some ways, that didn’t mean I failed to have a world of my own imagining, places in nature & in books & in my dreams where happiness existed. But I didn’t need to look for external things to provide me with happiness; rather, I found ways within myself to achieve that happiness. And, so, it’s a fascinating thing now in middle age to rediscover this innate power & ability. Thank you to nature for forever helping me to remember the things that came to me so instinctively as a child, before the world influenced me with all of its chaos & pressures. I leave you with lyrics from another song I love, “The Logical Song” by Supertramp:

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical
And all the birds in the trees, well they’d be singing so happily
Oh joyfully, playfully watching me
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible
Logical, oh responsible, practical
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable
Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical...”

May these lyrics & images inspire you, fellow introverts &/or writers in the way they inspire me.

18 thoughts on “Falling for Fall in Utah

  1. Very nice post, photos and thoughts. Being content is a long way towards happiness I believe. I think you are sharing the magic of attitude of gratitude, it gives new perspective.

    1. Right?! I mean, there was kind of a thing in the 80s with things that transformed into other things, all the time. β€œMore than meets the eye”! πŸ˜ŠπŸ™Œ

    1. Lovely! My husband works in Park City, so he gets a nice view of that area all the time! Lucky you! πŸ™ŒπŸ˜Š

  2. Nature is such a great teacher, Sharon, and what gorgeous pics! I love both the fall colors & the mountain vistas, as I’m in the flat part of Central Texas (coastal plain meets hill country), so I’m mostly devoid of both here, lol! My wife though is from Vermont, and via visiting her home state I’ve gotten to see β€œsome” fall foliage, and of course long to be able to see more 😊 But I hadn’t snapped to the dominance of yellow further west, but you’re right, most of my photos of fall in Vermont are dominated with oranges & reds. The few fall spots we get here in Austin have much more yellows in them. Anyway, loved your post & thoughts about renewal – all the best! 😊

  3. I just love this post. And that 7th photo down…oh my goodness….I was just in awe. (still am) Nothing is like the mountain view. The awe and wonder it inspires.

    You are absolutely right. The symbolism of this season is significant. Wisdom comes with age and the death of our childish ways from youth. In a youth obsessed culture – we would be much better served to recognize what’s actually important in this life. Growth can be painful. But it is oh so beautiful!

    Keep doing what you do. I love your blog β™₯

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