Beautiful Death

For some reason the leaves have been changing later than normal this year.  And that is fine by me!  I've been trying to soak 'em up as much as possible.  There are a couple spots on my drive home from work where I usually let out a "YEAH!" when I see some awesome color combinations.  Here are a few pictures I took around my office building: 

The view from our parking deck.  Love the combination of all the fall colors!

These are from my neighborhood streets and duck pond.

There is one tree in particular that just about takes my breath away every time I pass it.  It's massive.  It's just now turning electric yellow so I'll post a pic soon.  I've heard it might be a ginkgo but you guys can help me identify it.  Whatever it is, it makes me so excited about a creative God!

I recently read a blog post about how ironic it is that the beauty we're enjoying during this season is actually death.  Anybody have any analogies/thoughts on this?