mountain ash trees

Hubby's parents are from the Pittsburgh area, where fall colours are pretty awesome. 
But when they came to visit us in mid-October a few years ago, 
his mom was most impressed by two things...

magpies 
  (she had never seen one before and had no idea what a nuisance they can be) 
and 
mountain ash trees. 

Today as I rode back to the car after work, I noticed the mountain ash trees.
Some are still green. 
They look beautiful enough in that state, especially against a brilliant blue sky.

 

Some of them are turning yellow. 

And some are morphing into the splendid fiery red that made my mother-in-law exclaim.

Despite a relentless south wind, today's ride back to the car was pretty decent, every bit as good as the photos suggest. But I can't say the same about my ride to work. I parked in Callingwood, so the trip was about 12 km. When I left home the outdoor thermometer said 0 and the weather web site said the wind chill was minus 4. It was C-O-L-D. My gloves weren't warm enough. My socks and shoes weren't warm enough. Everything else was fine, but as Confucius no doubt say, cold hands and cold feet are enough to make one's whole body miserable. Accordingly, as soon as I got home this evening, I dug out my winter mittens with their wool liners and my ankle boots and wool socks. Tomorrow, I will be prepared!

~ ~ ~

Some days I begin class by having the students work as a team to compose sentences about the weather. After all, they're in Canada, and among us Canadians, weather is a favourite topic. Today they came up with 8 or 10 sentences about the wind, the cold, the wind chill, the sunny sky and the frost. 

Then we went around the room and the students told what today's weather is like in their countries. Quite a few of the students are from southeast Asia, which is experiencing severe flooding after a typhoon. One student's family had to move out of their house into a tent.

In Ukraine, it is about 20 degrees -- they call it a Baba (Grandma) Summer. In Korea and northern China, it is also warm. Paris is warm, but rainy. And in Hungary it is already  -9.

OK, so maybe Korea, China and Ukraine have the weather advantage right now, but I think I'll take Edmonton over any of the others. 

Especially with the mountain ash trees!