Fading Fast

          October 20 was the peak day for fall foliage here in Southwestern Pennsylvania.  It's all downhill from here.  Further north, the trees are already mostly bare.  Ours is the so-called "mixed mesophytic forest" type that (like Scotch-Irish settlement and influence) stretches from Pittsburgh--at its most northerly and easterly point--through the highlands and all the way down to the northern tip of Alabama.  Pittsburgh is where the great hardwood forests of the North meet with trees that are more common in the Midwest and South.  It makes for a less grand canopy than elsewhere in the state, but it is nice that the leaves linger this late into October.