I love the Fall leaves.
This week I actually got to see them–in person. Having grown up in Southern California, I have mostly memories of pretend autumn leaves. You know, the cut-out leaves of yellow, red and orange that your kindergarten teacher put up on the bulletin boards?
Why did they want us to learn about the seasons anyway? As a child it was always confusing. We never saw them. No yellow leaves, not red ones.
Oh, wait, yes we had red ones where I lived, and I picked a few.
That’s when I found out about poison oak.
So while in Utah this week, I was amazed at the beautiful non-poisonous red leaves, and I picked some, much as a child. And an acorn too. (We did have acorns in California that fell from the oak trees in our yard–and I did collect those too.)
All those years of learning about red leaves, and that snow follows autumn, and then green leaves, and then, let’s see–maybe it was a hot sun? or dried out trees in summer? That’s right, we did not go to school in summer, so no bulletin board reminding us what time of year it was.
I think we miss something–when we do not have the seasons. I look at the mountains and they look different, they look pleasing, and it is refreshing to see the change, a kind of starting something new.
At home, I am known for moving my oil paintings around. I like to move them to a different location in the house because then I begin to notice them again. Day in and day out, on the same wall, they are missed and not appreciated. I hang them in a new location and then everyone sees them again.
The seasons seem to help me stop and appreciate nature. Or maybe it is the cyclic nature of life that is appealing.
Sunny Southern Cal, as nice as the weather is, is the same mostly day in and day out.
And when the snow falls in Utah, and it is difficult to drive and cold to the bones, I can appreciate California.
But it helps to have lived in that snow.
And I will still miss the red leaves.
