Autumn in Northern Nevada
I'm a sucker for Autumn, always have been. Today was one of those pitch-perfect Autumn days of the sort that we sometimes get here in Reno, when the temperature is moderate, the light comes in at just the right angle and there isn't a cloud in the sky. It makes you glad to be alive. I'm not trying to oversell it or anything, but if you're lucky enough to live in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada then you know what I'm talking about.
Today it was easy to make out the brilliant dash of fresh snow that now accents the upper reaches of Mount Rose. You have to love Winter at least a little bit if you're going to love living east of the Sierra, because Winter is never far away in this corner of the world. Up in the North Valleys we are already getting frost in the morning. In my yard the flowering plants have somehow chosen these last couple of weeks to put on their most extraordinary display of the year to date; right now the front of the house is a virtual riot of blues and purples and reds and pinks and all sorts of shades that we never saw through the heat of the Summer. When the afternoon sun has made the air warm enough, bees and other insects still buzz from bud to bud as if this were early July instead of early October. I almost feel like my little garden is dancing in defiance of the coming dark season, and I love it for that.
But I also love this landscape, and as I said loving this land means loving Winter. In the next month or two snow will cover the mountains, the hours of daylight will shrink into the single digits and the daily commute on ice-slicked roads will become an exercise in white-knuckle terror. But it will also be time to pull the snowboard out of mothballs, wax up the cross-country skis, and remember how fantastic a warm fire or a hottub can feel at the end of the day. Winter doesn't make itself easy to love the way Summer does, but he rewards are just as great if you're willing to work for them.
That's in the future, though. For now, we are having a fantastic Sierra Nevada Autumn. I'm planning to enjoy the flowers in my front yard for as long as they can hold out.
Today it was easy to make out the brilliant dash of fresh snow that now accents the upper reaches of Mount Rose. You have to love Winter at least a little bit if you're going to love living east of the Sierra, because Winter is never far away in this corner of the world. Up in the North Valleys we are already getting frost in the morning. In my yard the flowering plants have somehow chosen these last couple of weeks to put on their most extraordinary display of the year to date; right now the front of the house is a virtual riot of blues and purples and reds and pinks and all sorts of shades that we never saw through the heat of the Summer. When the afternoon sun has made the air warm enough, bees and other insects still buzz from bud to bud as if this were early July instead of early October. I almost feel like my little garden is dancing in defiance of the coming dark season, and I love it for that.
But I also love this landscape, and as I said loving this land means loving Winter. In the next month or two snow will cover the mountains, the hours of daylight will shrink into the single digits and the daily commute on ice-slicked roads will become an exercise in white-knuckle terror. But it will also be time to pull the snowboard out of mothballs, wax up the cross-country skis, and remember how fantastic a warm fire or a hottub can feel at the end of the day. Winter doesn't make itself easy to love the way Summer does, but he rewards are just as great if you're willing to work for them.
That's in the future, though. For now, we are having a fantastic Sierra Nevada Autumn. I'm planning to enjoy the flowers in my front yard for as long as they can hold out.
posted by Yukon Sully | 9:01 PM
1 Comments:
I just got back from Vegas & Phoenix and it was so refreshing to feel the cool Autumn air of Northern Nevada. Not everyone likes the cold, but I appreciate the balance or yin-yang of our climate. Without Winter, how can you appreciate Summer (or vice versa)? I think I'll go out with my camera this weekend and take some pictures down by the river and Rancho San Rafael Park.....before long all the leaves will have fallen off the trees.
Post a Comment
<< Home