Goodbye for Now

At 7:00 this morning the leaves on our ginkgo tree started to fall. This tree came with this house we bought in my 30th year and that first spring we lived here a strolling elder passed our yard and stopped. “You know you have one of the only two ginkgoes in this town," he said in grave tones. “"Really?” we said, knowing little then of the power of trees. “Yes,” he said sternly. “The ginkgo is one of the Nature's first trees, a real primitive. Look how its leave grows right from its large branches; there are no little branches!”We started noticing then, all right. That was  in April and six months late we saw what you will see below.This morning I was slow to wake and was just passing the upstairs room I call my office when a flickering caught my eye. The tree was releasing its leaves - so fast that in an hour the tree would be bare. I threw on my robe and hurried outside so you could see it too. You'll hear the work of the world in the background - a truck backing up? – but mostly you will hear the tree. Press ‘Play’ now and think for a minute how quickly change comes to all us mortal things.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVv1vsHXHmQ]