Scrub Oak in Autumn

Here in northern Utah many of our hills and mountains are covered with what we call scrub oak bushes.  I'm sure that is not the 'official' name, but that name fits them well. The leaves are definitely oak shaped but other than that, these scrubby bushes do not much resemble their more beautiful relatives, the tall and majestic mighty oak trees.  Most of the year, scrub oak is not very impressive, although it does green up our desert mountains in the summer.  But come fall, these bushes are in their brilliant glory, arrayed in shades of gold, rust, yellow, red, orange, bronze, and every other color of fall.  

I read somewhere just recently that we should take a lesson from how leaves end their life cycle.  They don't fade away quietly, they end their lives with a colorful and brilliant blaze of glory.  I like that thought!!