The lilacs are blooming

The wind was quite brisk when I got home so these photos are of lilacs in motion. I remember the first year when I feared these bushes would not survive. Survive they have, and they are getting larger each year.

--the BB

It's here

The spring winds scour the landscape of New Mexico and I can hardly wait for them to be over. Life in a sandstorm, even a minor one, is not much fun.

Now we have the autumn winds. They are not as fierce but the night before last I could feel my house being hit by gusts and hear the wind whipping about. Each evening as I leave work I feel them blow. Leaves have begun to turn, though the trees are still mostly green. The wind knocks the leaves off branches and sends them scuttling along the ground.

I love autumn. It is a season when the blood quickens after summer's lethargy.

A blessed autumn to all in the northern hemisphere, and a blessed spring to our friends on the other side of the equator.

--the BB

Changing seasons

While what we consider spring around here has not really arrived (the really big winds week after week), some trees are blooming. This was taken on my way to Russian class Monday evening.

Many of the deciduous trees are still bare. I am enjoying the contrasts.
--the BB

Gusts

A crisp November wind swirled about me this morning as I walked from the parking lot into the office. Leaves scuttled in all directions: first this way, then that. Large crumply tan leaves of the great plane trees (here at the southwestern edge of the Great Plains?) littered the roadway. On the sidewalk were lots of ash leaves--their color a subtle blend. An underpainting of something I struggle to name--pale ochre? a mustard pastel? Over that washes of rust and faded lime. Very rich and wonderful in all its complexity and gradations. The non-bearing plums boasted their individuality. One is a motley of greens, gold, and reddish-orange; the next a shower of gold (brace yourself Danae); and the one beyond them still green, though it is fading toward yellow. All of it lovely... and it feels so good to tighten one's jacket in the cooler air.

Photo is from January 2003 in California, not November 2007 in New Mexico but I love the sun glowing through the blood-red liquidambar leaf against the clear blue sky.
--the BB

Contrast - Part 2

September 2007

October 2005

December 2006