Searching for Gold

I’ve lived in my current apartment building for 3+ years (perhaps the place I’ve been in the longest since high school?). That means I’ve been able to track things over time, and the number one thing I look forward to each year are the changes in the leaf colors in the trees in the courtyard off my balcony.

I took this pic this morning:

Combined with the yellow of the other balconies, it’s such a deep, rich stew of gold that consumes the courtyard and inside my apartment. They always peak a week or two before Thanksgiving, and it’s mesmerizing to wake up & emerge in to the scene. My morning coffee and I definitely spend way too much time just feeling it.

But I’ve never been able to capture the essence of the feeling they give in pictures. I’ve tried for years but still can’t grab it.

Here’s 2021 (in the awesome ground apartment I lived in for only a month, chased out by the noise of weights dropping in the building gym across the hall, which was slowly driving me insane):

2022:

2023:

Oh well — I’m gonna keep mining for that perfect nugget.