Fall in Neenah, Wisconsin
There’s a particular kind of morning we get here in Wisconsin in the middle of October — cool enough that you reach for a jacket on your way out the door, but with a sun so warm and a sky so blue that you end up carrying it instead of wearing it. October 17th was one of those mornings, and I spent a good part of it just wandering and looking up.
This was the view that stopped me. I tipped my head straight back and there was the whole canopy turning at once — some branches still stubbornly holding their summer green, others gone a deep, glowing red, and everything in between dressed in the oranges and golds that make these few weeks the best of the year. With the sun coming through from behind, the leaves almost looked lit from within, like stained glass.
That’s the thing about fall in Neenah: it moves fast. A tree that’s half-green one week is bare the next, so you learn to stop and take it in while it’s here. I’m glad I had my camera with me on this walk, because by the following weekend most of these reds had already let go and drifted down to the sidewalk.
If you’re local, this is your reminder to get outside while the color lasts. It never stays long — but that’s part of what makes it worth chasing every single year.
