Saturday Morning

Yellow Tree, originally uploaded by Louisville Swashbuckler.

I made a special trip to the library this morning (the only morning this Library is open) just to blog and I was thrilled to find it empty-- a good sign because it is very hard to think when sticky elementary school students (lots of locals dump their kids off here for the free childcare) are crowded around the terminal, waiting to play their online games, staring at me, picking their noses and complaining loudly to their buddies.

A magnificent yellow tree dominates the courtyard outside the window. The sun is nowhere is sight, but the light is on the yellow leaves, making them glow like so many daisy petals.

The Arbor Day Foundation tree identification was, um, a bit obscure. I couldn't answer all the questions about this particular tree (especially if its fruit is encased in a hairy capsule, or the exact nature of its leaf margins). The Virginia Tech folks had a terrific visual guide, but I am not in Virginia. They said it was an American Elm (and they show its range as ending abruptly on the east side of the Rockies, which makes its name an overstatement).

I found a picture on Flickr (above) that captures the essence of the view through the library window, but its leaves are clearly not the non-lobed, saw-toothed-margined variety of this one. I am starting to think that the east coast folks are more into their deciduous trees than we are, judging by the dearth of reliable on-line west coast tree guides.

My time is expiring.... publish publish PUBLISH!