A long drive up to Walpole, New Hampshire, today to sing with the New England Sacred Harp Convention. Walpole sits down in the Connecticut River valley, with the river on one side and steep hills on the other side. After the singing, K—- and I decided to stretch our legs before the long drive home. We walked up a side road to the height of land behind the town, and looked down into the river valley, and across at the hills of Vermont on the other side of the river.

“Looks like the trees are almost at peak color,” K—- said. The view of the Vermont hills was framed by one big sugar maple that was glorious in its red, orange, yellow, and green leaves. We started driving, mostly downhill, and by the time we got to the Boston suburbs, we noticed a distinct difference:– the trees were mostly green, except for the red maples in the low-lying swamps.