It is correct to say the shorter days are the impetus for the leaf loss on most hardwood trees, but the subfreezing temperature and gusty winds in the weeks to come will finish off any foliage stragglers.
Sweet gums, maples, dogwoods, and many others are starkly exposed to the elements.
Fort Pickens and its campgrounds reopened for winter hours Dec. 5, according to a press release from Gulf Islands National Seashore, but superintendent Dan Brown said it will still be a while before State Road 399 reopens.
It’s 9 a.m. on a Tuesday and the doors of Waterfront Thrift Store in Gulf Breeze are open for business. George and Sylvia Fleetwood of Navarre tuck their car into a parking spot as other locals arrive to shop for bargains while helping a worthy cause.
But the Fleetwoods are not there to shop; they have come to serve as volunteers.
Each December, volunteers bundle up against the cold and walk the silent rows of the nation’s military cemeteries, carrying armfuls of bright green Christmas wreaths.