Fall starts Thursday, but there are some sure signs.
The aspens on the mountains are just beginning to turn. (Sorry--this is a rather long telephoto shot, and I haven't figured out how to clear the atmospheric haze with Photoshop yet.)
The chamisa is blooming. It's a grayish-leaved shrub, grows to six feet or more if it's got water. The yellow of the flowers is beautifully intense, but there's one thing about it I'm not fond of: it smells like, well, dog feces. If you can get close enough to it, there's an oversweet component that begins to predominate and is not entirely unpleasant, but at this time of year when I take a walk, I keep looking at the bottom of my shoe. Some people claim to be allergic to it, but it's a member of the composite family, and they mostly have sticky, heavy pollen that doesn't fly around.
The purple asters are blooming. There are several kinds of purple asters, and I'm not sure of these. But their purple alongside the intense chamisa yellow is quite wonderful.
Finally, while I was getting these photos, I saw something scurry, mouselike, from one rock wall to another. As I was trying to shift from macro to regular photos, it ducked into that lower hole and then appeared on the other side of the upper rock. It was bird-shaped rather than mouse-shaped, though, and I think it was either a house wren or Bewick's wren. Its breast was streaky white.