Autumn morning on the lake
Oct. 25th, 2005 12:01 pmI had an appointment early before work, and my drive back to the office took me along a different route, on a road running by the Lake of the Isles. Green turning to yellow, oranges shading to blazing red, dull bronze, muted sere brown, the entire range of autumnal colors were there in the trees and bushes lining the lake and growing on the islands, and some branches were entirely bare. Mist hung, wraithlike, above the mirror-smooth surface of the water, but not thickly enough to obscure the reflections of the trees at the shoreline, and so the images were still and clear-edged, but muted, as if leached slightly of color. The sun just above the horizon shot rays through the mist, making the light tangibly visible, golden from some angles, apricot from others. The center of the lake reflected the pure blue vault of the sky, with just a wisp of cloud here and there, as if to keep the sky from being too perfect. Frost lay on the grass, deeper in the shaded areas, outlining each blade with silvery sharpness.