Autumn is catching up with us along the river.

Winter is staggering in, but the gushing spectacle of fall's color is hanging on.

Stop, look at that dazzling red maple along the shores below Buffalo … and those scrub willows are so stubborn. They will not surrender their thin yellow leaves along the Wapsi.

The days are so short.

Autumn is a spectacle unto itself. The fiercest colors occur when the sun breaks through at early morning, and again at sunset. The trees process the sunlight into dazzling Crayolas. Autumn on the river is the most vivid of seasons.

The water itself becomes a portfolio of reflecting colors, dizzyingly bright and clear. This autumn, the color is reluctant to leave.

No matter what is becoming of all of us, there is not a single thing that can disturb the face of autumn on the river.

Even that long, V-shaped formation of Canada geese is cruising low to admire autumn's paintbox.