October's Chatterbox (Finally)

Contrary to what some of you might think, when the calender flips to a new month and we've moved from September to October (which is such a lovely thing. October is my heart-month), Chatterbox is not the first thing of which I speak. To be very honest with you, I forgot all about it till last night. Usually someone reminds me, but I think you have given up, it being the sixteenth and all that jazz. Despite this failing on my part, we will be having a Chatterbox. In fact, it begins today. Those of you who don't know what Chatterbox is, I will direct you to the tag at the bottom of this post that says, "Chatterbox." Click on it--it shall take you to the realm of the never-never, which means Old Posts. Read them, love them, participate this time. So, you'll be wanting to know the topic:

Maples

Of course I can't just let you off easy and say "fall leaves," because not only is that lame, it is also not terribly specific, and I find specifics more inspiring. I want you to write about maples. Of all the autumn trees, few can stop the show like a blood-red maple tree. I love all the fall colors, but there's something giddy about a maple rearing red against the pines (we have mostly pines, so colors show up smartly). I will be kind and let you write about maples in whatever stage. You can even bend the rules and write about maple derivatives (syrup, flavoring, etc.), but whatever you do, remember that Chatterbox is an exercise in dialog as well as description, so have fun and get the old brain cranking! You may put your links in the thingamajig below. :)