Up until today it felt as though Fall was tentatively dipping her toes into the idea of making an entrance. But today she took full stage. There were leaves strewn across lawns, in all the gutters and along fences. As I wandered along the pavement I inhaled deeply. The aroma of sweet wood burning in someone's fireplace filled my lungs. Birds called from the highest branches of a redwood. Blossoms knocked from the branches of bushes lay strewn across the pavement like giant pink and white snowflakes. Even though it is fall, roses still cascaded down over brick walls. I love the contrast of roses in full bloom and leaves turning golden. It seems so unlikely. There are few places in the world where blossoms and dying leaves share visual space.
Up above, the Turkey Vultures were gliding in the blue sky.
I have mentioned this before, but Sacramento is known as the city of trees. It lives up to its name. The entire city is covered in trees. The area I live in is especially blessed with gorgeous, big, old trees.
The large number of old, giant trees means you have to watch where you park during storms (cars getting crushed by tree limbs is a regular occurrence here), but it also makes for incredibly good tree-climbing and beautiful light and foliage in the Fall. Like something out of a painting.
And of course, when you have that many trees, you also have squirrels. This little fella was checking me out. Or maybe he was posing. From beneath, the leaves looked like stained glass or as though they were burning and glowing from the light of the sun filtering down through them.
By the time I started for home, I had a huge grin on my face. I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day, and a gorgeous Fall. I made sure to crunch through some leaves on my way home. I love the sound and feeling of crunchy leaves beneath my feet.
I enjoyed brunch with friends late morning, and this evening I took part in a women's devotional on the theme of happiness. I shared my experience of sheer joy from my morning walk with the others. Fall is officially here. As I write this, I am listening to rain drumming on the roof shingles. I cannot wait to wake up tomorrow, bundle myself up, and head out to study the Baha'i writings with a friend of mine while we sip tea. What do you enjoy most about the Fall where you live?
Yesterday and today were full of frenzied weather activity. The wind reached 100 kmh yesterday with rain going sideways, broken umbrellas littering the street and sticking out of garbage cans, small branches and limbs joining twigs and leaves on the sidewalks.
ReplyDeleteToday we woke to rain, which has been heavy since Tuesday night, and then hail, then more rain, hail, rain, but suddenly a pause. Blue sky came back after missing for days, with white clouds slipping out from under the gray ones, shafts of light warming buildings and making dull muddy pools glittering mirrors ruffled by winds. Hail came right after, and rain, then slush, and the sun again. And so it went through the sunshine hours. These changes were accompanied by winds gusting to 50 or 70 kmh. The high? Maybe 10, but it sank to 3 overnight.
Tomorrow we may have a more settled day, once the rain and snow stop. Then there'll be sunshine and mid-teens temperatures. Such beautiful skies (if the forecast is right) will seem fresher and more like autumn thanks to the wild, driven wetness of these last two days. It's the combination of rain and sun (though I favour the sun) that makes autumn what it is, for me
Thanks for reading, and for sharing your experience of Autumn, Jeff.
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