NOVEMBER 2015

The Winds of Change

Red Vine

The autumnal equinox occurs on about the 24th of September. That’s when the sun is lined up with the center of the earth. Darkness and daylight are exactly twelve hours apart, and the sun rises due east and sets due west. The temperature begins a steady drop and the days start getting shorter. Those are the two changes I don’t like.

Oh, tell me not with words asunder,
Seasons bring both dry and wet.
Spare me hues of grey and umber,
I’m not through with summer yet.

Aspen Trees

By early November the sun is passing farther south, and although she’s closer to the earth, her rays hit my orchard at a cooler angle, causing summer’s palette to fade toward wistful browns, reds and yellows.

Apricot

The cooling winds are now fresh as they blow through my apricot trees, whose leaves dry and drop to the ground where they slowly decay and enrich the soil.

Apricot Tree

Several years ago Madam Nature exercised her prerogative in our space without forewarning nor even offering a reason why, and countless trees in my little forest perished. No longer will I be lulled by the throaty whisper of quaking aspens that one time populated our landscape, nor shall I ever again enjoy their shade that protected me from the glaring summer sun. Much of nature’s colored complexion, which once was enough to attract the approval of even the most indifferent, is now absent from my hillside.

Soon I’ll plant 200 pine saplings. There is always hope when old men plant young trees.

A few years ago my grandson, Shiloh, shoveled snow from my portal. Notice the aspen trees in the background. Now they are gone.

Don’t hale when north winds blow too soon
Across my pine trees tall and lean.
Let’s keep the warming days of June,
Blueberries are red when they’re green.

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