Sometimes fall color isn't what you expect

Visiting various places in New Mexico, I was looking for fall color today. The skies were in large part overcast and Sierra Blanca (11,981 feet) had its head in the clouds most of the day.  Although most of the taller trees had lost their leaves in the wind over the past few days, some of the smaller and closer to the ground shrubs and plants were showing fall color.  These were most prevalent in areas that have had forest fires in recent years.  In the case of fire, low shrubs and scrubby trees are the first things to replace the pine and fir forests.  Many of these seem to be able to hold onto their leaves through the wind storms.  This photograph was taken south of Ruidoso, New Mexico along the road from Cloudcroft.

In Capitan, NM, I saw an old school bus rusting away in a field north of town.  The yellow of the bus reminded me of the opportunities to photograph the yellow aspen trees I had missed.  It also reminded me of the simplicity of the days when children rode busses like this one to school.