Autumn’s just beginning, but I’m thinking of the tree outside my window at my old house: a small red-leaved maple. Beside it in the front yard was a small green-leaf maple, so in fall we had a two-toned orange and red carpet across the lawn.
Autumn is my favorite season, though I don’t dislike any of them. It’s the time when my energy rises and all things seem possible. “Maybe this is the year I reach my full potential,” my heart sings, even as my head labors to track all the events filling the calendar. So much of our activity rises and falls with the school schedule, though no one in the household has been in school for many a year. This is the pattern of society, and I think the weather has more to do with it than we may want to believe.Now, instead of the decades-old maple tree, pr
obably planted when the house was built, I look out my window at a small mesquite tree, just six years old, which I planted myself. It too will turn color later in the season, though its color will be a rather uninspired yellow. It and I have settled in together. It is now growing at a steady pace, and so can I.
On the day I began drafting this post, a roadrunner appeared in our back yard. This pleased me greatly, because I want our yard, small though it is, to be a wildlife haven. How he came in I have no idea, but he was finding good things to eat. He wouldn’t pose for the camera, but here he is enjoying the shade of the small mesquite tree.
Visitor
freethoughtandmetaphor 
Sep 22, 2012 @ 09:09:57
Nice reflections on this first day of autumn. I love the photograph of the road runner!
Sep 24, 2012 @ 02:37:02
Hi,
May I say that I love that maple tree that you had in front of your old house. I love to see the leaves on a tree as they change and then shed themselves for the winter. I too have planted here in Germany in our backyard an Essigbaum. I don’t know the correct name in English, but if you translate it, it is called a vinegar tree. In Autumn the leaves turn a pretty red color, and I love it.
I am not a good farmer at all so everyone thought the small tiny stem of a tree would not make it. For some reason or another, I wanted that tree to live and I practically prayed it through the beginning stages. Now it is much much bigger than I and it is beautiful. My husband wanted to chop it down because one of our neighbors complained about the leaves, but I dared him too. That tree stays under my protection and it is mornings like today, when I sit at my small breakfast bar and look at the beautiful red orange leaves that are appearing.
Thank you Ellen. Your article today made me thankful for my Essigbaum.
I enjoyed reading blog.
Ciao,
Patricia
Oct 02, 2012 @ 11:27:09
Wonderful post.
I love the roadrunner–he must have sensed your yard was a welcoming place to visit. Animals, and people, who are drawn to us and our homes reflect the warmth we project, and your writing reflects a warm and open personality.