I never liked Autumn back in India. I really don’t know why!
The weather would play pranks, hot during the day and pretty much chilly at night. The monsoon showers would be a thing of the past. The leaves on the trees would simply fall off without any indication of ageing or changing of color. Laden with dust and pollutants, the leaves look a dull green/brown throughout the year (except during monsoons, when the dust washes off and we are blinded by the beauty of the green underneath 🙂 ).
Autumn, or Fall as it is called here, is a delight to see 🙂 . The trees around have such bright shades. From burgundy red to fiery oranges to vivid yellows. Some trees hang on to the green and add that dash of charm to the palette. The trees outside my window are all yellow now. A shade so bright, I have never seen anything like it before. Within this week, they will turn brown and most probably, by next week, the trees would shed off their leaves. Then, the sight is pretty desolate 😦
Anyhow, on the outskirts of Chicago is an area called Lisle (pronounced ‘La-ill’) which is famous for its arboretum. Whats an arboretum, you may ask! And I’ll gladly reply – it is a tree museum.
Yup!
The Morton Arboretum is a famous tree museum where the motto is, “Plant Trees”. Seriously! Its that simple. Conceptualized by Joy Morton, the arboretum was first open to public in 1922. Since then, they have a massive collection of trees from all over the world! Apart from planting trees, the museum also does research on tree-growth factors, impact of pollution on trees and environmental benefits from different types of trees. Needless to say, the arboretum covers a whopping 1700 acres of land which is beautifully landscaped to showcase the trees. Please do check out the link.
Sunday was bright and sunny (which does NOT mean it was warm!), unlike the last two weeks before it and I decided to make the best use of it. It was also the last day of fall season, meaning, by now, 80 percent of the trees would have shed their leaves. Luckily, we were on time and got to see some really wonderful fall colours.
It was a breathtaking experience. The beauty of nature is so powerful, I don’t have words to describe the sights 🙂
For once, I rued not getting a decent camera along for the trip 😦
The twins enjoyed the trip, not because they felt very close to nature and all that jazz but because they had their friends along with them and all they appreciated was the vast expanse of ground where they could run to their heart’s content 😀 (and also climb trees!)
Clicking pictures of the trees was a piece of cake compared to clicking snaps of the kids! They were so pumped up with adrenaline that we barely got a couple of decent shots in which none of them was moving (whew!). We had a great time, albeit a tiring one. By the time we got back home, it was 9pm and we could barely eat dinner before crashing out!
And ohh! The BF could not accompany us for the trip, but he had the most amazing Maggi, hot and ready for us when we got back. And he also had hot tea ready for me 🙂 .
( Tired out by the long journey, legs throbbing with all the walking we did and throat sore from yelling after the kids throughout the day, I realized in that one moment, once again, why I love this man so much!! )
Winter is around the corner and it is just a matter of days when everything will be covered in white! I’ll miss these wonderful colors then 😐
Sigh, such beauty. This makes me envy you so much. An arboretum is such a great idea!
Very nice photographs. Very colorful.
Birthday post! Birthday post! We want a birthday post!
Here after a long time and I see that you have moved 🙂
Lovely pics there!
I hope everything is fine Noor. Sorry to hear you are having a sad day – Cannot read the post. But my good wishes to you.
Wow! I had no idea I’ve been away for so long… the kids are all grown up.. almost 🙂
Nice pics!!
Hey Noor – I just thought of you today so thought of saying Hi – How are you? Hope the kids are back to school now. Take care.