Fall

I've been kind of sad yesterday and today. I love Fall. I love the changing colors of the leaves. I love the crispness in the air. I love smelling the wood burning stoves starting up. I love watching the trees shed their leaves, preparing to be dressed by the first frost and then the snow.

Yesterday I wasn't so happy at work because the landlord of our building was cutting down this huge tree. I'm not sure what kind it was, maybe an oak. As I sat there at my desk, my eyes kept going to my window as peices of this tree were slowly hacked off and dropped to the ground. First I just thought they were trimming it up, but as more limbs dropped to the ground, it became very apparent that this trees 100+ year life was coming to an end. I'm sure there was a reason they had to bring this tree down, but it just seemed liked such a loss! Now when I look out my window at work, I still see plenty of trees and Gold Mountain, but I don't get to see that tree close up.

I work in the old high school/ninth grade center and I've pictured, how over the many, many years, groups of students probably used that tree to shade them during lunch or protected them from the spring and fall rains. Now that spot will just be a parking lot.

I'm usually not that sentimental about things like this! I'm not against logging. I'm not against taking down trees on property to build a house or other structures. I'm not against progress taking place in our town. Maybe this just bothers me so much because I don't know why the tree had to come down.

Or maybe it bothers me so much because we are nursing our little trees in our own yard to one day be big trees like those on the other side of town that were planted so long ago by the first inhabitants of Sandpoint.

There are some huge Ponderosa pines and a group of Tamarcks outside my window too, and I really hope when I get to work tomorrow that they are still there.

I still love Fall, but I really hope I don't see anymore trees falling.