Autumn Show

September 30th, 2011. Published under my neighborhood. 2 Comments.

One more day  and it’ll be October. The trees in our neighborhood have lost their glorious flowers. The crape myrtles, summer’s last holdouts, are fading fast. In  our neighbor ‘s yard, the pomegranate blooms have given way to heavy red fruits. The limes are looking tempting and within reach. I might need a few to marinate the tuna steaks that my mother gave me. The guavas seem to be late this year.

Doesn’t matter. I just want to see a eucalyptus.

We used to live in a big apartment complex that was planted with many eucalyptus trees. They must be starting to bloom by now. Back in 2009, I was seated at a playground bench when my daughter, who was just three years old at that time, ran to me with panic in her voice. She was happily playing, minding her own business, when a busy bee decided to join her on her favorite twisty slide. She took my hand and dragged me to see the unwanted playmate. “Talk to it, mom. Talk to it”, she urged me. Before I could give the winged creature a sound scolding, it flew away. We followed it until it went up and over the tall fence, straight to a row of eucalyptus trees in bloom. There it got lost among hundreds of its kind. They were having a bee fiesta! I heard several shrill bird calls. The red flowers attracted hummingbirds, too! I counted three of them darting among the leaves. That was the first time I learned that eucalyptus is a flowering tree.

What a treat! I thought that mother nature was winding down in preparation for winter. Just when I  concluded that she had nothing more to show, I saw something that made me think it was springtime all over again. It caught me off guard and filled me with delight.

I stood there, gazing upwards, hoping to catch another glimpse of those fascinating birds. The breeze was blowing towards me and I caught a whiff of…. What was that? Oil of Wintergreen? I breathed in an out for several minutes. Slowly. Deeply. Leisurely. It is not everyday that you get to enjoy refreshing, mentholated air in the city. “So this is what it’s like when the eucalyptus is in its full glory”, I thought.

“Mommy, mommy, talk to the bee”, my daughter cried impatiently as she tugged at my arm. “Hey, leave Tina alone”, I warned threateningly. She nodded in satisfaction and left me for the twisty slide. I went back to sniffing the perfumed air.

I wish I could do that again.