By Dan Weisz
Two weeks ago I drove to Ski Valley at the top of Mount Lemmon to find some Autumn leaves. And there they were!
There were a lot of Aspen trees at that location and the yellow leaves popped out of the background against the many evergreen trees. But while I was watching them I had a funny feeling.
I looked around and saw that while I was looking at the Autumn leaves, the Aspen trees were looking back at me with big old eyes!!!
Aspen leaves blew softly in the wind, and the changing colors was outstanding…..
…but still, it felt like I was being watched. These Aspen eyes are the result of how the Aspen grow. The trees grow tall in order to reach the sunshine in a thick forest. As the tree grows, it ’self-prunes’ and drops smaller branches that don’t receive enough sunlight. When the small branches fall off, they leave a scar on the white trunk of the tree.
From a distance, the golden glow of aspen is a stunning seasonal display.
But from a closer look, many trunks sport ‘eyes’. Each eye is unique. Some trees have several eyes while some just have a few.
“Autumn is a second spring, when every leaf is a flower”, by Albert Camus
And one more eye.
Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.
I’m glad to live in a world where there are Octobers.