Autumn Reflections

Yesterday I went to a favorite nearby local wild place, Bays Mountain Park. Although fall has barely started, already there was some color in the trees along the edge of the lake. I took some photos of the trees, but slowly became more fascinated by the reflections than the trees themselves.
Many years ago my aunt, who my dad named me for, Ruth Happel Smiley, wrote a book including her nature photos named Reflections of Mohonk. I have enjoyed this book since my childhood, and some of her photos of reflections hung in the hallway of my childhood home for decades. So I think I was steeped in her view of the fascination of reflections.
When I look at autumn colors in the lake, it is an impression of the trees, much like impressionist painters captured the essence of their subjects. Here is a photo I took yesterday of the leaves reflected in the lake, among the dying leaves of the summer’s waterlilies. For me, on this early day of autumn, this photo best captures the transition to a new season here in the Appalachians.