Fall in Nevada City, 2004
Photos taken November 2 and 8, posted November 9, 2004
P.S. added November 14, 2004
© 2004, Herbert E. Lindberg

Fall colors have come on limping feet this year. Rain and snow came early, then it was unseasonably warm, then unseasonably cool, and the past few days it's been overcast. The trees have been turning color, but in a patchwork here and there. Still, they are turning and you'd best hurry up to Nevada City if you want to view this annual beauty show. Below are a few snapshots I took with Mary this week and last.  A Little Color  Our first sojourn was on November 2, to Nevada Street near the Washington Street overpass across the 20/49 freeway. This area can be spectacular because of its many tall maple trees.

Home decked out with pumpkins and a golden maple.

The color of these trees across the street hadn't quite peaked.

Yesterday, November 8, we walked through town north of Broad Street. Many trees had already lost their leaves and in places they were falling like gentle snow, while at the same time many trees had their leaves and hadn't reached peak color.

This row of trees east of the court house was beautiful even before reaching full color.

Mingling of colors amongst classic homes on Pine Street.

A Little History  After walking up Pine to East Broad Street we turned right and right again to return down Main Street, where there are many old homes which are beautiful at any time. Just a short distance north of the grade school (attended by grandchild Tyler) we came to my favorite old home. The colors weren't spectacular but it was a beautiful scene with the lawn covered by fallen leaves. It was here that leaves were falling like gentle snow.

The historical home at 545 Main Street.

While viewing this home we read some of its interesting and impressive history on a plaque at the fence along the wooden sidewalk. With such historic importance, I dug back to my May 5, 2002 photo of the same house. This late Spring photo has always stuck in my mind because the house was framed by shrubs, lawn, and trees, and the foreground was brilliantly colored by roses near the fence. A picture of the plaque then follows, so you can read the home's colorful history, which touches on several familiar California cities and towns.

Same home photographed on May 5, 2002.

Plaque with history of the home pictured above.

But not all in Nevada City is classic homes with beautiful landscaping. Below is a photo taken on Pine Street, which is a long  stone's throw from the back yard of the historic home above on Main Street.

Back Home in Lake Wildwood  For vivid color we need go only as far as our front yard. Below is one of three maples that have been glowing red for weeks, but it doesn't make much of a photograph because it isn't framed well on our steep driveway. Had I gone looking for color in the context of picturesque homes, I most likely could have found pictures that would rival or even surpass the ones displayed here for Nevada City. But our basic human instinct is that the grass is always greener, and the trees more colorful, somewhere else from where we live, and what better place to look than Nevada City? Get up there soon -- the color is peaking right now.

A maple glowing brilliant red along our driveway.

P.S.  A few days after returning to Lake Wildwood I took a short walk up Chaparral Drive back toward the main gate from our house, just past Bunting. I snapped the picture below looking toward the lake. There's no place like home.

Fall scene in Lake Wildwood, Nov. 13, 2004.

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