An Autumn Morning in Las Vegas

the pink of dawn fades
as clouds change to white and gray
trashcans at the curb

It is Wednesday, October 9, 2013, and, as usual for this day of the week, I rose from the couch before dawn. I made coffee, took out the trash, switched the computers on, and logged into writing.com. I poured myself a cup of hot black coffee and looked out my living room window. I watched as dawn turned the clouds pink and then, after a few seconds, the clouds faded from pink to various colors of gray.

Las Vegas autumn
a chilly windy morning
oak leaves change colors

When I took the trash to the curb, I checked the neighbor's oak tree to see if the color of the leaves have changed. This morning, most of them are still green, but that will not last long. Soon the leaves will turn orange and begin to fall. The wind will blow the leaves across the yard and into the street or into other neighbors yards.

Las Vegas autumn
my favorite time of year
the weather is nice

Haibun-Haiku: Oak leaves changing colors

oak leaves are changing
their green if fading each day
a chill in the air

I noticed that the leaves on the neighbors oak tree have begun to change color. The green on some of the leaves are fading to yellow, while others are beginning to turn orange. This morning, when I went out to get the newspaper there was a chill in the air. I did not stay out very long, but I did get a change to look up and see the morning star.

Haibun-Haiku: White Oleanders on the first day of fall

white oleanders
glisten in the morning light
mostly cloudy day

Even with the clouds covering most of the sky enough sunlight gets through to cause the white oleander blooms outside my living room window to glisten. There is a slight wind, just a small breeze rustling the oleanders and the trees. In my yard are oleanders, a pine tree, and the remains of an olive tree. The neighbor next door  has an oak tree in his yard, while the neighbors across the street have pine, olive, and oak trees.

The Oak Tree Next Door

An arctic wind blows
The oak tree next door is naked
Its yellow scattered

I went out to get something from my car and noticed that the oak tree in my next-door neighbor’s yard is naked. I look across the street and the oak it that yard still had a few leaves remaining. It is winter in Las Vegas.

The Last Friday in November 2011

Oak trees shed their leaves
Scatter them across brown lawns
A chill in the air

When I went outside to pick up my newspaper, I noticed that there were yellow and gold oak leaves scattered across the neighbor’s yard. A few of the leaves were falling, but most of the leaves still clung to the tree. This afternoon the wind increased and more leaves fell from the tree. In a couple of days, someone will begin raking the leaves and putting them in a trash bag for the garbage trucks to hall away.

When I was a child, people racked leaves into piles and burned them. I can remember my grandfather raking the cottonwood and elm leaves that covered his yard. After he racked the leaves into piles, he would burn them. Grandpa always had a water hose close by in case of an emergency. He never burned leaves without having a source of water incase the fire got out of hand.

Today, it is against the law the burn leaves in the city, so the leaves we put into bags or trashcans and let the garbage trucks hall them away. The leave could also be used as mulch, but since neither my neighbor nor myself plant a garden the leaves are put in the trash.

Autumn in Las Vegas

Bright sun black shadows
Oak leaves tinged orange and yellow
Dawn of a new day

At dawn, the sun cast the dark shadows of oak trees across the black asphalt of my street. The shadows were a deeper black against the dark pavement. The neighbors’ oak trees are changing color.

I want a round oak dining room table like the one in my childhood home

I enjoy rustic furniture perhaps because it brings back memories of my childhood. I want a huge round oak dining room table like the one my childhood home. If money were no object, I would buy a table like that and put in in my dining room.

I wish I had a picture of that table now. I remember the table was big enough to seat eight people. I can still see the dishes of mashed potatoes, gravy, fried chicken, biscuits, and black-eyed peas setting in the center of the table.

I remember the stain used enhanced the natural wood of the table. The table set in the combined kitchen-dining room in the house where I spent the first fourteen or fifteen years of my life. I want a table like that in my own dining room.

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