Seasons Come and Seasons Go

Summer is over, and autumn has arrived in it's usual stormy way. Gusty winds blowing leaves all around. Rain beating down in bursts. Washington State isn't known for its overall fall foliage, although there are some really pretty places... or so I have heard. An odd thing that I noticed last weekend was that the capitol campus of "The Evergreen State" has a relatively small amount of Evergreens, dominated rather by maples and other deciduous trees. Near the WaDOT building I found a rhododendron with a single blossom still clinging mightily to its stem. This is odd, since most rhodies are done blooming by...oh... early summer. I love the autumn storms. I drove home through a rare thunder & lightning event the other day. Traffic slowed to 40 or so on the interstate, mostly due to the fact that the visibility had shrunk to about 6 inches. I would have much preferred to be somewhere with my camera set up to catch that once in a lifetime lightning shot. I almost got one once. It was with my previous camera,and just a millisecond too slow. Maybe I'll get another chance this fall.