Falling leaves
299. Turning point
Monday 13 October 2003
The autumn colours in the garden are quite spectacular just now. Better than I'd ever imagined after this long, parched year. The weather forecast for tomorrow is good too and perhaps the trees at Bruar will prove to be equally fine. I hope so.
I always looked forward to the autumn colours of Perthshire. My first introduction to Pitlochry was on a frosty October morning when I got off the overnight train and walked out through Faskally Wood for an interview at the Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory. A magical spot to live and work. Nicola's birthplace, five whole years before you began to twinkle, Jamie Man. I suppose if life has to come to an end anywhere, then Highland Perthshire must be one of the finest places on earth for it to happen. So I tell myself.
Today has the feeling of a turning point. There is a heavy sense in the air as if autumn is close to the very height of its beauty for this year. That sense was so powerful this morning that I felt compelled to get the camera out again and go round the garden taking pictures of the trees, to remind me of this unique moment in a unique year.
It's sad to think that you won't be there, stepping out of the house each morning to go for the school bus, striding through the fallen leaves and marking the changing yellows and golds of our big sycamore tree above the playhouse. Then the frosts, the days growing ever shorter towards midwinter, the first snows of the year ... Or will you?
Sycamore leaves falling on the playhouse, October 2003
J Click on your "Back" button to return to the place where you were up to,
or here for the opening Hey,Mr Big! page