Yesterday was a blustery day.

I was driving in Concord on Thoreau street, approaching its intersection with Walden street, with a big yellow leafed maple tree in full bloom right before me. It was glorious in the afternoon sun and its leaves were ripe to fall.

Just as I stopped at the stop sign, a sudden gust of wind sent its leaves flying, and a crosswind sent them scattering through the air like a large flock of yellow starlings, seemingly swooping and soaring on the afternoon crosswinds.

I went on to Walden Pond for my transcendental afternoon walk, but nothing I experienced that afternoon was more transcendental then that now semi-naked tree having flung its leaves to the winds. Autumn has truly arrived in Concord.