Turning

When we planned a little getaway to take advantage of this long weekend (Yom Kippur) a while back, we had no way of knowing how the next weeks might disrupt the flow of time. The possibility of an ACB in SCOTUS forecloses for me either the future (she's younger than me) or the stability of the existing form of US government, its credibility fatally undermined by the past years of Republican misrule. And yet here we are on a stream, the leaves glowing even on an overcast day. Fall's always been my favorite season, perhaps because it was somewhat notional from my Southern California perch, but driving up today it filled me with an unexpected sadness. The colors are signs not of life but of death. Still, the insouciant rush of the water consoles, and the mute witness of the trees, which have seen many autumns.