Fall in St. Paul

 My favorite season. 

Big Bird stands guard over the alleged zinnias. (They all came home from the garden store months ago, labeled as the same orange zinnias, but they grew into two distinct flower varieties, neither of which looks like the zinnias I expected.)

I love the morning glories, which grow like weeds — but never in the places I try to plant them.

Marigolds are joined by chrysanthemums.

And above it all towers the white pine that Macy planted when she was in first or second grade, one of the tiny slips of trees sent home on Arbor Day.

I remember being taught, when I was a child, how long it takes for trees to grow, and thinking that one could never plant a tree and live long enough to see it grow tall. Time moves more slowly for the young.