Isn't it interesting how dull skies can make the colours in the landscape seem more vivid? It's a matter of contrast, I guess, but here it seems that moss never seems more green nor fall foliage more fiery than on a darkling day.
We're having just such a day today. Rain fell in the wee hours of the morning and, although it has stopped, the clouds that bore it remain here still.
From my window, I can see Mt. Tzouhalem resting, her shoulders and feet shrouded in downy dove grey, her forests and cliffs drawn with a dull pencil and then smudged by the artist's thumb.
Below her, the landscape rolls towards me, a mix of dark bare branches, deep green conifers, and yellow ochre cottonwoods, with - here and there - a splash of bright scarlet marking the place of plums and sugar maples. The colours grow brighter as the distance diminishes until, quite close by, a single dogwood shines defiant pink, distinct against its dull background. The May tree beside my balcony is startling: bright yellow foliage contrasting with deep scarlet, lilliputian, rose-hip-shaped drupes.
Leaf confetti is strewn across our lawn. Walnut leaves, so dark a brown as to be almost black, mix with lemon yellow ginkgo leaves, the deeper yellow leaflets from the May tree, and star-shaped red and orange sprinkles from our Japanese maple. Fading hydrangea heads, now a deep berry purple, nod in the flowerbeds, next to banks of bright chrysanthemums, yellow, purple, and deep rusty red, looking out upon the scene before them as if all this extravagance is their due.
Inky black crows are busy foraging through the leaf confetti, searching for their breakfast. They're dining on the tiny brown mushrooms that spring up after each night's rain. Intent upon their meal, they ignore the pedestrians passing by on the sidewalk just outside our fence.
Walkers today wear bright raincoats or carry umbrellas.
Children wear rain boots and splash in puddles.
Car tires swish on the wet pavement.
And I sit here, sipping my coffee and watching it all.
It's time to stir myself and face the chores of the day, but not before I wish you a happy Wednesday. Whatever the weather where you are, I wish you a little sunshine to carry in your heart, a measure of lightness to lift your spirits, and at least a moment or two of quiet in which to pause, draw your breath and enjoy the beauty around you.
Have a joyful day.
