Tricksy Trees!

I love Cottonwood trees. Do you want to know why, my friends? Well, first of all, they're on our lot back home, along the creek. So it reminds me of my home and my family.

I love the summertime when everyone is outside and you hear their loud voices down the street at the park. When it smells like hosewater and sprinklers, hot asphalt and trampolines, and everyone is smiling. When you can take the time to sit down for a moment in the outside air and bask in your contentment, in the golden sunlight, in the wildflowers, in the caress of the wind, in the hydrated thickness of the air, in the whispers of the trees. As you're laying in the soft, green grass, you see little white puffs of cotton float by. They drift nonchalantly along. To me, the air seems enchanted, magical as these breaths of white glide on the air currents.

And, oh, the leaves on those trees. When you listen closely, as you often can during those summer months, you will hear the wind caress the leaves. But it's not your usual 'wind rustling through the trees' sound. It is an enticing whisper, yes, but also a subdued energy, a tickle, as its leaves hush and laugh against one another. It's like a calm face with twinkling eyes. Eyes that twinkle not with curiosity, but with some secret they will playfully keep from you. These trees continue to charm and entice, lure and hypnotize, as they flash their leaves. I always find myself captivated. Because they sparkle. The leaves swivel at their stem and flash either side at you. And since one side is lighter than the other, you get a beautiful sparkling effect. Fascinating. Mesmerizing. Captivating. Ah! Clever tree! You got me again!