Did You Survive Thanksgiving Weekend?

Thanksgiving is over. The marathon of cooking and eating is behind us now. Did you survive the marathon? We did. We also survived some very strange weather on Thanksgiving Day. First it was unseasonably warm---in the high 70's. Then mid afternoon the wind started blowing really hard and many of the fall leaves came tumbling down. The weeping cherry tree in the side yard lost its top leaves but kept the leaves on the lower branches. And our beautiful red burning bushes lost all their leaves! The Bradford pear trees and the Japanese maple still have their leaves. After the wind came the colder weather from the Midwest. Jack and I are glad that we raked up leaves before the holiday. Of course we will have more to rake after the rest of the trees lose their leaves. It is interesting how in one metropolitan area like northern Virginia there are so many micro climates. We had the opportunity this weekend to drive along the George Washington Memorial Highway south of Alexandria and we noticed that the trees along the Potomac River were at their peak of color. What a beautiful sight. Later the same day we drove along the Fairfax County Parkway and all the trees were bare except for the brown leaves of the tall oak trees. These oak trees will hold on to their leaves till spring comes in March.