This Autumn's Last Gift

 

"I stood in a clearing among a stand of beech trees, leaves as red as rubies, branches black as jet. It was sunset, and shafts of richly colored sunlight struck through the delicate pillars of the tree trunks, as if though the lancet windows of a cathedral."

 

~Kate Forsyth

Bitter Greens

 

In my sadness, I thought that I would probably never see a sunset again, as beautiful as a sunset from way atop Grizzly Peak in Berkeley, or from an unobstructed view of my beautiful Pacific, from Ocean Beach, in San Francisco, but last night the sky burned with every bit as colorful beauty as I have ever seen in those other two places. And it doesn't hurt my heart to say... I am home now. I have found a new creative love in enjoying the birds at the protected areas along the San Joaquin Delta, and my camera has found purpose. And I even have my beloved Mount Diablo to remind me, San Francisco, and all the places that live in heart, aren't so far away, and are just right on the other side of the mountain waiting for me. If I can see Mount Diablo... I am okay. I am Okay. Better yet... I am in love. Autumn 2020 had one last gift for me. My heart is healed.

 

Woodbridge Ecological Reserve

Lodi, California

December 12th, 2020

~Carly

December 12th 2020

Stockton, California