Tamaracks!

While it's true that we completely failed to take any pictures of the construction at the end of this season, I do have some excuse: I had just discovered that we have a stand of tamaracks on the farm, located just north of the building site. They are, hands down, my favorite tree.

I love their name, from the Algonquian for "wood used for snowshoes." (Their other name, larch, is nowhere near as evocative. Practically meaningless, in fact.)

 

How can you not love a conifer that looks like an evergreen until it deciduous-ly drops its needles in the fall after a stunning display of dark gold color? They are pretty fine looking in the spring and summer, too, with their whimsically curving branches.

Somehow, all my previous visits were timed such that I missed their spectacular fall show, and so I never knew they were there until this year. You can see them from quite a distance as you drive towards our property, making them a temporary fall landmark. Although, as my daughter pointed out after over-reliance on traffic cones, your landmarks in a new place should never be orange.

~t