I am old, and I love leaves, particularly those on our deciduous trees. After a long winter you suddenly see hundreds of little buds on the trees, and as the days get longer and brighter they start to unfurl, then it seems like one day you go out and all the trees are fully robed in their glowing mantles of differing shades of green, with the occassional glorious purplely copper of the Copper Beech Tree 💜🧡💚
But all too soon the days of shimmering heat arising from the earth beneath our feet, and the sounds of bees drunkenly buzzing around our nectar filled blooms, turn cooler and fresher; but we can't be sad, because now is the time that our glorious trees prepare and dress in all their multi coloured hues of reds and yellows and orange for the seasons last great ball!
But there can be no prize for the Best Dressed Tree, as they are all magnificent in their own spectacular ways...
The following morning those stunning wooden masterpieces start to gently shed their sumptuous robes in the most mesmerising dance of the seven veils, one that Salome herself would have been proud of. Sometimes the dance can swirl and whirl for a period of life enhancing time, but sometimes it can be dangerously short - only through the vagaries of nature can the veils gracefully drop as if to the soft, redolent, and nurturing forest floor, or be whipped to a frenzy in more of a dance of the Tarantella than the tease of a sensual burlesque dancer. The resulting colouful, but sadly short lived carpet, is like a cosy and welcoming blanket that helps bring delight into this old lady's life.
The starkness and bitter coldness of our darkest months, throw into profile the sudden nakedness of those transcendant skeletal figures, and the bareness of their branches only serve to highlight and emphasise the differing seasons of these beloved, life giving, sedentary souls.
Thank you Trees, no Earth life could survive without you. You are Gaia's and our Nourishment - The very air that we breathe.
🌳🌿🍃🍂🍁