Fall Beginnings and Endings
Fruits of fungi bursting forth from the ground. Mushroom cities thriving across decaying logs and up the sides of stumps. A young Pacific wren watching me and unafraid; nuthatches and kinglets calling high above. And everywhere, bigleaf maple leaves cascading downward, each doing so in their own way. There are the twirling leaves, unconcerned about growing dizzy. Rockers sway back and forth like an old porch swing. A few glide in one direction like a flying squirrel. The red alder leaves, more streamlined with fewer edges, zoom down. No time to waste! No time to waste! they might be saying. Other leaves begin their descent but then land on another branch, another tree; the ground is not for them today.
Banana Slug on Cedar Tree
I could barely pass the many fungi during this morning’s hike without stopping to take photos. Two banana slugs, one cruising along the bark of a cedar tree, made appearances. There is so much to see and hear in the forest, even on a short hike, even in a young stand. I am especially grateful to hear the golden-crowned kinglets, as their high-pitched voices can be the first that many people begin to lose as they grow older. While the falling leaves reflect the end of the growing season, the fungi in full bloom and the young animals about to experience their first autumn and winter represent the new. How lovely and how nourishing for the soul. Today I stopped and just sat wanting only to listen. Woodpecker. Leaf falling. Kinglet. Nuthatch. Leaf falling. Raven. Douglas’s tree squirrel. Leaf falling. I wondered what it would be like to sit in this place for several hours. And maybe do absolutely nothing besides listen and watch. Today I did not do this. I rose and continued, hearing red crossbills and others and looking at the lake for the trumpeter swans who will soon be returning.