Poodle walking the other day (I do a lot of poodle walking/jogging/running; anyone who's ever owned a Standard Poodle understands) I realized that the color of the sky had changed; autumn was here. The humidity had cleared out, and dry leaves were skittering on the road, blown by a north/northeast wind. Royal blue at the top of the bowl, cerulean towards the horizon, everything in high relief, long shadowed, polarized.
It's very flat here- flatter than the Midwest, but somehow the skies aren't usually as high, except for this time of year, when the ambient moisture hasn't made them heavy. This year, because of drought, the trees are showing their frames a bit earlier than usual, and instead of color, the foliage is essentially just giving up. This old apple tree has great bones, and no one officially cares if it's bearing any more, but it has still mustered a few for the road...
