Summer Lovin': Inspiring Nostalgic Summer Photos

There's no doubt winter seems to drag on and on while summer seems to go by in the blink of an eye.  Feels like the 4th was just yesterday, but here we are, wrapping up July.  Before ya know it, it'll be the apple pickin', leaf fallin', pumpkin pie makin' season once again.  What's the best thing you've done this summer? 

 The highlight of my summer has been camping and hiking and being able to enjoy the great outdoors without trudging through snow.  In about a week, I'll be going to the amusement park.  I'm not too excited about that after the recent events of a woman falling to her death on the Texas Giant at a Six Flags. What a horrible tragedy.  My thoughts and prayers are with the family.

August is my favorite month of summertime, simply because it starts to cool down, things seem calmer, the sun seems to set with a warmer tone.  It also means my favorite season, autumn, is right around the corner.  I'm into all that corny stuff, you know, going to the pumpkin patch, apple picking, baking fall treats, family time. I don't personally think it's corny, but my friends think I'm corny and I'm okay with that.  

100 Awe-Inspiring Fall Photos

During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest, and live off the food they stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their food-making factories. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along. We just can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll.

The bright reds and purples we see in leaves are made mostly in the fall. In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves turn this glucose into a red color. The brown color of trees like oaks is made from wastes left in the leaves.

It is the combination of all these things that make the beautiful fall foliage colors we enjoy each year.