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Autumn Leaves Much to My Imagination

Pun fully intended

Mark Ali
Counter Arts
5 min readSep 25, 2023

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Autumn scene with fall leaves at Mingo Creek Park in Pennsylvania
“Autumn at Mingo Creek” (© Mark Ali)

If you know me, you know that I’m not above cheesy puns, like the one in the title above.

But, if you know me, you also know that I’m a huge fan of autumn.

For me, it’s a season for time travel, because I not only enjoy the present, I’m also propelled back in time to all the autumns of yesteryear.

Yes, I just used the word “yesteryear”. I didn’t want to, but it was right there.

Anyway, it occurs to me that there are several phases of autumn that each have their own unique memory triggers.

The first bit of color appears on autumn leaves.
“The First Touch of Color” (© Mark Ali)

Early Autumn

Ah, yes, back-to-school time. Although I always did well in school, I was never one of those kids who were “ready to go back”. On the contrary, I hated going back.

But early fall also brought about another time — football season. (I’m referring to American football, for those of you reading this outside the U.S.)

As a kid growing up a Steelers fan in western Pennsylvania in the 1970s, this was an exciting time, almost exciting enough to make me forget about going back to…

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Counter Arts
Counter Arts

Published in Counter Arts

The (Counter)Cultural One-Stop for Nonfiction on Medium… incorporating categories for: ‘Art’, ‘Culture’, ‘Equality’, ‘Photography’, ‘Film’, ‘Mental Health’, ‘Music’ and ‘Literature’.

Mark Ali
Mark Ali

Written by Mark Ali

I’m a writer, a photographer, a music lover, and a professional ice sculptor. I’m kidding about that last thing. (View my portfolio at: markaliphotos.com)

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