I was wandering around downtown Florence, Alabama, on a recent cool and misty fall morning and I realized that this weekend is probably autumn 2008’s last chance to dazzle and inspire before wind, rain and cold blasts us into winter. It’s been a surprisingly vivid fall this year around here, with vibrant reds and yellows glowing in the midst of subtle oranges and softly fading greens. Now, there’s beginning to be more leaves underfoot than overhead. But as I was rambling around Wilson Park, the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts and the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, I remembered once again that sometimes the most beautiful and wonderful things are — literally — in our own backyards.