“At peak”

(Photo by BobbaLew.)

Last night (Saturday, October 24, 2009) the weather-guy on the TV news said fall foliage in the area was “at peak.”
He displayed a map of New York State that had orange all around Rochester.
Yep; I happened to take our dog to good old Boughton Park (“BOW-tin;” as in “wow”) yesterday morning, and came upon the view pictured above, while walking in the road.
Leaves all yellow with the low sun shining through.
Enough to get the old stroke-survivor to notice.
About a year after my stroke, I was being taxied to Rochester Rehabilitation.
My cabbie was an older gentleman whose daughter had suffered a very severe brain injury in an auto accident.
She was almost down to nothing; couldn’t talk, was in a wheelchair, and was bog-slow in her movements.
It was the time of fall foliage, and I noticed it wasn’t making the powerful impression it made before the stroke.
Previously I had been very aware of the change of seasons.
Now I didn’t seem to be as aware.
And that’s how it’s been ever since the stroke.
In May the frenzied lawn-chase begins, and late June is strawberry season.
This all happens like clockwork, and in a few weeks I’ll be blowing snow.
Yet the passing seasons don’t seem that noticeable.
Except yesterday at Boughton Park on the road in.

• “Boughton Park” is a nearby town park owned by three towns, one of which is West Bloomfield. (We live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield in Western N.Y., southeast of Rochester. ) —It used to be a water-supply.
• Our current dog is “Scarlett;” a rescue Irish-Setter. She’s four, and is our sixth Irish-Setter.
• I had a stroke October 26, 1993.