For the last 22 autumns, I’ve lived here surrounded by several huge sweet gum trees.  Back in August of this year, my son – and he knows his trees – referred to them as red gum.  I commented that they’ve never looked red to me.  He pointed out the reddish stems on the leaves and then we went back to whatever we’d been doing before.   I usually describe the behavior of these trees come autumn as “one leaf turns yellow, then brown, then falls … then another does the same … until one day the tree is bare and the ground is covered in brown leaves”.  And a month ago, I was convinced that was going to be autumn not only for the sweet gums, but in general.   But the last week or so, the color everywhere around is just beautiful … brilliant golds and oranges and deep reds.   Yesterday I noticed that the sweet gums were joining in and were changing color … not just one, but all of them together.   And then after a gray and wet morning, I came home to clouds breaking to display another bright, blue sky.  And yes, the gold appears to be turning red …