Fall color and frosty pastures

It's the end of fall, and winter is breathing down hard, impatient with waiting in the wings. In the early morning, the sun rose over the valley and highlighted the frost in the pasture, the golden grass, the red twigs, and the last few cottonwood leaves on the trees by the pond.

Just a few days later, winter had its way and the fall colors were gone, the grass laid flat by heavy frost, the wind bringing the last leaves silently falling to the ground.