We moved into Vallejo Street in January, and by February we had,
with Cath's help, some semblance of order.
Our study is upstairs, and overlooks the North-East garden and the orchard.
The view showed potential, so I started taking photographs as the
seasons changed. This page displays the passing of a year, seen
in the changes in that same view.
This is mid-February: It is stark, the sky overcast, the ground soggy,
the trees mostly bare.
Spring onset very quickly; the view seemed to us here in April to have
taken on its full lushness, but it would keep coming.
You can see that we had the new orchard fence in place by this time,
thanks to Tony's help!
There was a noticeable thickening of the foliage even by the 1st of May...
...and the foliage became even thicker before May was out.
It kept this lushness throughout the Summer, as June and July
came and went.
The garden was shadowed by the huge maple tree, and the grass saw
no direct light in some spots.
By August the Maple's leaves were set in place, insects were warring with
the plants and with themselves.
The vigor of the Summer was waning.
Of course the instantaneous weather alters the perception of the view. Here is
the view on a bright sunny day in October, to be
contrasted with the next photo.
In October the mists came, often not lifting before 10 or 11 in the morning.
It seems that there is less foliage in the misty photo,
but in fact these photos were taken only a week apart,
and careful examination shows about the same actual leaf content.
By November, the leaves were falling in earnest.
You can still see some apples on the crab-apple tree in the orchard,
but the Fall was come, and few maple leaves were left on the big tree.
And now finally, in December, it is "officially Winter"; although we have
some wonderful sunny days, and there are liquid amber trees in
amber and red along with evergreens and bare trees, the days are
short and the nights cold. With the January rains, the cycle will be
complete.