Spring Awakening

Living in a land of live oak and redwood, bay tree and Douglas fir, it's easy to think that Marin doesn't really shed many leaves. While it's true that a vast amount of our mountain (and meadow) greenery is evergreen (hangs onto needles and leaves throughout the year) versus deciduous (goes bald in the fall), we do have some pretty spectacular seasonal shedders. A stunning example grows right outside my front door. The crown you see here is of a tremendous heritage oak--a valley oak--that towers above my home in north San Rafael. It was here long before my house sprung up; it will (hopefully) be here long after--these magestic monsters, which can soar to nearly 100 feet and have branches as big as tree trunks, can live for six centuries. That means the acorns of "my" tree, a staggering number of nuts that clatter to the ground each fall, once fed Miwok Indians, and probably foraging grizzly bears, both long gone from this region. But the oak lives on. I give you a shot of its elegant crown right now--within a week or so it will be floating in a lime-green fuzz of new growth. A ancient and glorious harbinger of spring.