Well, it finally happened. I was sitting peacefully at my computer, like normal, visualizing all the pretty colors I see in the trees when Diane lets me go outside. Normally they don’t turn such vivid colors until it freezes, which it hasn’t done, yet, to my knowledge. The deciduous trees that litter the hills, hiding in plain sight amongst the evergreens through spring and summer, apparently think otherwise. Their disguises serve them well until fall, when the promise of winter causes them to blush profusely, betraying their location, making them more prominent as they comtemplate the impending loss of their leaves, leaving them naked, surrounded by a majority who staunchly maintain their greenery. Living thusly only serves to make them more noticeable, a bright spot in a forest made mostly of a never-changing sea of green.

The fall colors seen in the north-east are unquestioningly dramatic and awe-inspiring, but those in the north-west are bright little surprises hidden most of the year amid an ever green forest. We know they’re there, but we forget until they remind us each fall.

Normally the leaves drift down gently in the breeze, signaling an end to summer, a prelude to winter. It’s a beautiful thing to watch this cycle of life.

Here’s the view from the front of our house looking up our street at the next door neighbor’s front yard. The house is for sale, or will be soon, if anyone is interested. It’s on a half-acre, daylight basement, with an unobstructed mountain view, just a little higher up the hill, and there’s an opening in the rock wall Sven built so you can visit us any time you wish. Really, you can.

Following is our beloved dogwood tree as it looked yesterday morning before Jeff visited with Gilligan and Baylee. There’s just something about trees, with low hanging branches, that compel children, of all ages, to climb them. Cedric, Lydia, and Jeran graduated from the dog wood and climb all the way to the top of its fellow yard-dweller, the tall, green, birch tree to the left.

Gilligan … she just turned six …

Gilligan and Baylee …

Baylee … she will soon be five …

Here’s how the tree looked when they were done climbing it …

That’s a lie, of course.

The tree looked that way before they climbed it. You knew that, right?

This is the third time it’s covered it’s ‘space’ with leaves. It’s very pretty, and easy to clean up with the mower, but it seems wrong to undo the effort this tree expended in order to provide us with such a pleasing sight. So, I will wait until all the leaves descend, then I’ll take another picture before decorating it for winter …

like this …

Nature.

What a wonder it is …