Happily spent from two nights of dining with our dear friends Eileen and Raph, I stumbled into the house well after 10 PM last night and heard the following music emanating from the local classical music station. It was mystical music, carrying calm and beauty and a sliver of mystery to it – shards of whispered secrets sounded across every pluck of the harp and strum of the guitar string. It was spring music, imbued with hope and a bit of tension, the way cold could still creep into the night and shock in the sunniest of mornings. Entitled, ‘The Spirit of the Trees’, it went perfectly well with the photos of our coral bark maple tree just coming into its miraculous chartreuse splendor.
Here we are already at the end of April, one more day of the month to go before the glory of May arrives, in apparently rainy fashion. Spring rains are somehow more maddening than the rains of fall – less depressing perhaps, but more bothersome. We waited all winter for some relief – it’s like stalling and hesitating and pulling back when you’re ready to go, go, go…
A little rain – or a lot of rain – won’t stop the show of the coral bark maple leaves. They will shine brightly even on the grayest days, brightening their corner of the yard with this magnificent shade, accenting themselves with that striking red bark. This fresh hue will last for a while, carrying its clarion call into the start of summer before ripening into a slightly deeper shade of green. Then, come fall, the reversal of fortune occurs, as the leaves turn bright yellow before fading to a ghostly pale cream color. By winter, all that will remain are the coral stems, which will burn through the months of slumber until they recreate this spectacular show all over again.
