in the summer, the leaves on the trees are full of water (or whatever the technical term is); they are fresh, alive, soft, supple. when the wind blows, no matter how hard, the leaves do not rustle so much as they flutter. the sound of leaves in a spring or summer wind is like cloth on cloth.

with autumn, the leaves dry up (kind of ironic, what with all the rain). now the leaves make much more noise: they truly rustle. like thousands of pieces of paper flapping and scraping, a drier sound, even the ones still alive enough to remain on the tree.

and the best sound of all: falled leaves, dry and crisp, crunching and cracking underfoot, or making the skiffing noise when you kick your way through a pile. the colors of autumn are amazing, at times simply stunning. but i love the music of the leaves as well. there's a harshness in the dry leaves scraping together that serves as an appropriate warning of the coming winter.

listen to autumn and prepare.