Madrone

It is a beautiful time of year here in wine country. Along Highway 12, the vineyards are russet, cadmium and carnelian, layered under trees of red, gold and green, topped by a cloudless azure sky. In the regional park near Glen Ellen, we walked under huge oaks, which are beginning to lose their leaves, and buckeyes, which lost all their leaves a month ago. They are laden with buckeyes, whose husk splits open to reveal rich mahogany colored polished seeds about the size of a large plum. I tried filling a bowl with them, but although they look like beautiful wooden jewels, they are more akin to an avocado pit, and eventually rot.

My favorite tree in Sonoma Valley Regional Park, however, is the madrone. They keep their grey-green leaves , festooned with spanish moss, year around, and their red branches can be smooth, or peeling off in little curls. I have a great fondness for trees with gnarled branches, and these vie with the oaks and buckeyes for the sunlight, casting interesting shadows on the dry grass.

Back home, the fruit flies were beginning to gather on the uneaten bananas in the fruit bowl and hover around an open wine bottle. While I made banana bread, I watched a woodpecker at the "water feature" outside our kitchen window. He is quite a handsome bird with his elaborate necklace of red and black feathers and his bright red skullcap. But the handsomeness is offset by his white ringed eyes which give him the look of a mad clown. Before each sip he looks right and left and right again, and then furtively dips his beak into the water. He must tip his head way back in order to swallow, and I can see the movement of his throat. These birds are quite resourceful, hiding their acorns in any nook or cranny they can find in the split rail fence, and when those are full, they start making their own holes (better the fence than our house).

We bid goodbye to Daylight Savings Time at 2am and now at 5pm, the golden light is giving way to dusk. Soon it will be chilly enough to "light" a fire in the non-polluting gas fireplace.