BY LESLIE REGO
October is brief and fugitive. November brings the same sky, but the brilliant colors do not linger. Tree branches, with their last scraps of leaves, play silhouette games. The October rainbow deserts us.
But wait, it is seven in the evening and the crescent moon is clear in the dusky blue sky. The last of the sun’s light cloaks the top of the sage-covered slopes in a creamy yellow. The pink of the sunset creeps down the hillsides, leaving rose-colored petals in its wake. This evening there is life in the soft tones. We are in the month of November when the landscape is famous for its muted colors.
The moon is brilliant, nestled into the gloaming sky, a scrap of sickle-shaped light growing brighter and brighter as the delicate colors fade, the gaunt and naked branches becoming ever more Stygian.
The night air is still except for the faint dry sounds of the crackling leaves underfoot. Rustles of sounds float through the air like ghosts passing quietly through the darkness. The sliver of moon casts its sliver of light over the dormant landscape. Stars appear a few at a time. Sweet November, before the romance of snow, is showing its own courtship.
Leslie Rego is an Idaho Press Club award-winning columnist, artist and Blaine County resident. To view more of Rego’s art, visit www.leslierego.com.