Autumn arrives, from an autumn person

Autumn Sunset, Eastern Oklahoma--9 by 12 watercolor, 140# d'Arches

Autumn officially arrives with this week's equinox and our maple out front has a twinge of color on some leaves. The air is cooler, the sun almost due east and west at beginning and end of day.
I think I am an autumn person.
Without being morbid, I thought of that today scanning the obituaries, always looking at the birth dates and accomplishments of those people listed in the Sunday newspapers. 
Most of the people are in the autumn of their years and their birth dates are getting closer to mine. I realize autumn is a favorite season with me because of the beauty in the colors of the foliage and the filtered light of the shorter days.
 As I read those obituaries, I have come to know that they also grew more beautiful as the years went by. Many journeys, many miles, many lives, enriched as time goes by and this life fades, just as this year is fading. Neither is it sad. In fact, sadness comes when I read the notices of people much younger than I who have died of disease or other causes, not being able to reach the beauty of autumn.
So this is today's inspired watercolor...celebrating autumn, the season of beauty in nature and lives.