Autumnal Orange
When I took this picture, I know I was thinking how orange it was. Looking at the pictures later, there is more yellow than I remember. Maybe it’s a trick of the light and a consequence of the way the camera sees light as compared to how we do (or how I do). Anyway, this is the view out my office window. I could certainly have a worse view. Of course there is a parking lot if I look a little lower but there is no building next to us in that direction. Anyone who has been following my photographic doodling for a while knows that there is a ten or twelve acre lot next to my office. It happens to be on the same side of the building as my office. I know people with offices in more scenic places but I really cannot complain.
This is a willow oak, Quercus phellos. It gets its name from the leaves, which are similar in shape to willow leaves rather than the lobed leaves we normally associate with the oak genus. The willow oak makes a good, if somewhat large, tree for a yard. Its smaller leaves are easier to deal with and fall sooner than those of the red and white oak groups (although the willow oak is actually in the red oak group, section Lobatae).