When I mention to people I am from Michigan the Fall colors are often mentioned. And, I understand why people bring them up, but that is not the Michigan I come from.
I come from an area of Michigan where there are but a few shade trees around the farmhouses. Once upon a time it was all wetlands and forest, but that was before my time.First came logging and then the swamps were drained creating one of the richest farm areas in the world. Of the trees that do remain, many are maples. They try their best to put on a show. Alas, they are more like candles than the blaze of color to our west and north.
I come from the Saginaw Valley. It is farmland. It is flat. Come autumn, it is a wondrous world of grays and browns with the occasional green of fields of winter wheat. Autumn in Mid-Michigan is about sugar beets piled high in holding areas awaiting processing. It is about fields emptied of soy and edible beans. And, it is about the air...it has a damp chill about it.
This morning it was 50F/10C, certainly not cold, yet there was a damp chill in the air. It wasn't much to speak of, just a hint, but enough to remind me of home. Yes, today was the first day it felt like Autumn to me.
- 50F/10C and overcast for the ride to work.
- 69F/21C and mostly cloudy for the home ride.
I agree with that feeling. From tomorrow on I will be riding with the liner in the jacket, my other set of gloves, and the full face helmet.
ReplyDeleteActually, yesterday I got the helmet down with the dual lens. It is time. That said, it is supposed to be in back in the 80'sF by Thursday. Still it is time to have the gear handy.
ReplyDelete~k
Your Michigan sounds like my Central Illinois. There it is ALL corn and soy. Nothing else. And flat enough to see forever. There are lakes and rivers, so many trees line those areas and there are conservation areas, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteBut serious flatland farming is a challenging landscape to appreciate. I'm glad I'm gone from there. When you live in an area that is all about plowing up, cutting down and/or spraying to kill it is a very unhealthy environment in every way.
Those are my memories and reality of that place.
Martha,
DeleteMy memories are similar. I do remember when spraying was an oddity. I remember the days and hours of hoeing and cutting out weeds. I remember when 160acres was a big operation.
I left I left with was an appreciation of space.
~k