Farewell to sun and shadow

We have had the longest, amplest sunny autumn in Portland's recorded history, but all forecasts now agree: the rains will arrive on Friday. In my experience, we can expect the rain to be with us, more or less steadily, till next April or May. I am fond of roiling gray clouds and wet days and nights, so it isn't that I mind.

But I have loved this bright brassy sunlight, these sharp shadows, these warm breezes. I have loved them with all my sunny heart, and today I gazed upward into these golden coins of heart-shaped leaves with such love, it brought tears to my eyes. I know it's not entirely over. There will be sun-breaks and the occasional bright moments throughout the winter, though this long stretch of unbelievable golden light is coming to an end. I couldn't take pictures of anything else today.

It was hard to choose one. The other three top contenders are here. They are all so beautiful to my eyes that I am blind to their differences. In this one, the faint, distant clouds have given the blue a metallic quality. In the others it's more a classic sky-blue. My eyes are in love.*

*Last line purloined from Frederick Franck, who wrote My Eye Is in Love.