Growing up in place like Florida I was never properly introduced to the seasonal changes. It was pretty much dry season / wet season changes that we worked our lives around. Moving to Sonoma has thrown my idea of seasonal change totally off whack. Summers in Florida were humid, wet, and lushly green while winters were dry, temperate, with very little moisture. In Northern California it is almost the complete opposite. Summers here in Sonoma are dry, brittle, and moisture free. Winters (hopefully) tend to be wet, foggy, and green.

While it doesn't snow here, it can still get chilly enough to want a fire roaring in the fireplace and the rain is such that it comes down in a soft mist most of the time. As we move from "winter" into spring I can't help but be fascinated by the almost invisible changes taking place all around me. One moment a tree is bare, with just the tiniest buds, the next it's exploding with new foliage! Like the maple I photographed, or the rhododendron flowers that just opened up.

It's pretty amazing, when you think about all the variables that have to work in harmony to put forth such beauty as a new leaf or flower. Earth, air, fire, & water - each base element plays its own special role in the creation of life....take one completely out of the mix and the whole system comes crashing down....