Seasonal Color

After our long, hot, dry summer we seem to have moved directly into winter. I know I mentioned this before, but... it's a shock when one day the dahlias are blooming profusely and the pumpkin vines are shading some still-green fruit and the next we are cleaning up black spongy remains of stems and leaves, burned beyond hope by a heavy frost.

So I'm trying to get back into step. Trying to adjust to the abrupt change. And truly I've been enjoying the fall color - while driving through the tree-lined streets on my way to work this last week, and sitting by my 2nd floor office window looking out onto the urban jungle that is Redmond. Yesterday the wind picked up and we had a terrific swirling storm of leaves just flying off the trees, burying the parked cars below, revealing the tree trunks as if by time-lapse photography.

Today, at home, Mark mowed over the last of the leaves from our big oak - thankfully before they all ended up getting blown into our neighbor's yard. All crushed up, they will return what they took from the earth last spring. There are still some green trees though, so maybe we'll have a second mini-fall season before it gives up entirely.

And on the river trail in our little valley the leaves were thick this afternoon when we went out for a walk, crunching wonderfully beneath our shoes. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain again.

And the river is already rising!