Andy Chase

Finally, one week before the start of calendar Winter, it's Autumn in Los Angeles. Apart from a couple days last weekend, days have been in the 50s and 60s with nights even cooler.

Today it started raining again, which always puts me in a cozy sort of a mood. I ate lunch late and consequently by myself, so I sat near the cafeteria windows so I could watch the drizzle.

Over a rooftop on the next street I saw a large tree whose leaves had turned a brilliant orange. A few other deciduous trees up and down the street were showing their colors, while others had lost their leaves altogether - giving them the Scooby Doo graveyard look.

Fall foliage is pretty against a deep blue October sky, but I've always liked the striking effect the trees create against a neutral gray sky; the yellows, oranges and reds become quite intense when they don't have to compete with the blue of the sky.

I got a cup of hot cider (well, a cup of hot water and a packet of hot cider mix) and looked at the trees for a while. It felt like Halloween is a week and a half away, not Christmas. Because I could only see the treetops, it was easy to imagine that I was looking out a window somewhere in New Hampshire or Vermont, and behind that one bright orange tree was nothing but more trees in all different colors, Maples and Oaks and Birches for miles and miles.

In reality of course, there's nothing but dirty streets, strip malls (not to mention a few strip clubs), and suburban sprawl beyond that tree. Sprawl that goes nearly uninterrupted all the way up to Valencia.

Why do people live here?