On this Saturday after the storm, Aki and I walk the flume trail, a neighborhood route that climbs up one side of Gold Greek and down the other. The little dog stays on lead during the ascent, which involves city streets like Gold Street, and once over the old wooden trestle bridge, a gravel road. Like Marmots taking advantage of the fair weather, dog owners are out and provide Aki with much entertainment.

I am drawn to the tall cottonwood trees on the south slope of Mt. Juneau. Some hard chargers have already dropped their leaves. The brown and yellow colors of died back ground cover show through a confusion of their trunks and branches. Cottonwoods near the creek still sport green leaves. Others illuminate dark spruce groves like yellow candles. I should be bored with these trees since I have walked past them for 20 cycles of the seasons. But each day they show me a different flash of beauty. Even during an autumn storm they provide a place for rain to collect and glisten.