July 20, 2024:
I always loved the fall.
I responded joyfully to the drop in air pressure. Grey clouds, Pacific rain squalls, or heavy overcast. Rain was the best. Especially if I had a new jacket. Out into the drizzle, immediately: let's see how good a job this jacket does.
Rain sheltered in tree limbs was the best of the best. I'd climb one or another favorite, to feel myself protected by the hug of the leaves. Atavistic memory of ape DNA, perhaps. Sixty years later I'd still love to live in a tree.
Street View shows my earliest childhood tree is no more. The apartment is still there, the tree is gone. Shame, that.