Leaf garrote

I've been waiting all autumn for this, and Wednesday it finally came. It's the annual fall foliage disappointment article. Usually these articles come before the peak colors and say that this year will be a disappointing year for fall color due to not enough rain, too much rain, too much heat and too much cold. This time, the Tribune printed the disappointment story after the peak fall color season.

Now, I've been in Chicago all the way through autumn, and I have seen quite a bit of fall color. It's not the New England countryside, but the reds in the maples have blazed nicely. I'm guessing the yearly disappointments are because of the embellishments of state tourism photos and a mistaken nostalgia for the years of our childhoods when the colors were really vibrant. Sort of how everyone remembers winters with eight-foot snow drifts from their youth. And how it used to be a lot colder. And how it's been a lot milder in recent years. OK, well, maybe that is actually true.