Leaves

Fall Leaves

The leaves of the tree outside my window, back lit by sunshine, are brilliant jewels. Yellow leaves hang like golden ornaments among the ruby reds and lemon-greens. The denseness of the leaves has diminished which, in summer, forms a shade sanctuary from the oppressive heat of the paved parking lot.

One of the joys of autumn is watching the green of summer blossom into gems of color before winds force their drifting into oblivion. As a child I gathered them on the way to and from school, always looking for a more spectacular one to add to the collection. Mom often used them to decorate the dinner table.

Until recently, as seasons changed, television stations gave daily reports on where the viewing of fall colors was most spectacular, but for the last two years, extreme weather conditions have been so violent, the viewing of colored forests has not been on anyone's agenda.

Fall Leaves in Houston

Privately though, I take great delight in noticing the changing of the colors and appearance of trees as they become bare and dormant for the winter. Some of the city streets have become open to the skies showing bare limbs, while some districts have oak trees on each side of the street, their branches tangling and twisting together above the street creating tunnels.

The only people I see these days who pay attention to leaves are gardeners who have blowers to whisk the leaves into yard bags ready for land fills, aka 'the dump'.

The jeweled toned leaves of the tree outside my window are visible for only a few short minutes every day before the sun rises higher in the sky and the back lighting fades away. In another day or so the leaves will have fallen and I'll have to wait until spring to see budding leaves starting a new life cycle.

Fall Leaves in Texas