By james art I’m a city kid who can often be unfazed by nature. But I am blinded by the fall as it unfolds.
I’m fascinated by how all the reds, fawns, yellows, and golds that paint the leaves that still cling to the branches and are stirred by the winds can become their own busy cityscape.
I’m having fun with the magic show. Look at those green leaves, right? Then, abracadabra, before our eyes – they all take on different colors!
My wife and I spent a few days this week in Bend, Ore. There were maple trees along a river that looked almost like geysers gushing out red and gold leaves. Brown leaves scattered across the ground and crunched under our feet with each step.
We walked through parks that seemed to be covered with gorgeous Persian carpets of leaves, swirling in swirls of brown, burgundy, scarlet, and sun-bright yellow.
The dogs rushed through the mess and clumps of these leaves and shook them off their noses. The children rushed into the knee-high piles, dancing and laughing, making beautiful, sharp, silvery giggles over all the snapping and crunching.
Gusts of wind swirled through the leaves there and seemed to sculpt them into waves of red, orange and yellow that rolled across the green of the park. At one point, several leaves hit me in the face. As a city kid, my instinct was to say, “What hit me? Call a lawyer!” But of course, it really was an act of nature.
There is wonder and also longing in the autumn annual spectacle. The curtain of summer heat is lifting, singing leaves with shades of orange, gold and yellow. But the leaves that burn brightly will soon fall. The birds that perched and sang from the branches during the spring and summer begin to gather to fly to warmer climates. It’s part of autumn’s special show, reminding us of the arrival of colder days and the darkness of longer nights.
We have ways to stay warm and happy in the coming winter. But the fleeting, fragile days of autumn with crisp mornings and iridescent colors can be moments that remind us to open our eyes to the world and appreciate and care for it while we can.
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