Well, Tina has chosen the perfect season for this topic, things that don’t last! Changing skies and fall colors definitely are ephemeral!

In my back yard, I have three Japanese Maple trees. Starting in mid-October, their foliage goes through two transitions, sometimes almost overnight. They start out green, and gradually turn from maroon to bright red, before they start losing their leaves. This year, I embarked on a project where I take pictures every day, to track those changes. Here, I will pick one tree, the closest to the west side of our yard, and show you photos of how it turns color, except for the first photo, which is the one on the east edge. Apologies for the barbecue in the way, it blocks access to a piece of patio.

This is the East side tree on October 23, so you can see how it is mostly green

The west side tree, in order, left to right on top then bottom: October 24, 25, 27, and 28. You can see the gradual change from green to dark red.

Dates: October 29, 30, November 1, and 2. Nearly all bright red now.

These are November 3,4, and 5. The tree is 100% bright red now. Apologies for all the maple leaves, since we had a windstorm, and we are still getting heavy rain, which bring down the leaves from the two big vine maples in the yard. They will start to lose their leaves next week.

Of course, clouds are completely ephemeral, never being the same shape or location from minute to minute. I’m always on the lookout for cloud shapes and colors that inspire me.

This one, over Snoqualmie falls, looked like it was attempting to escape from its place.

Keyhole in the clouds.

Living in the Pacific Northwest means we get more than our share of dark clouds, but they are not the same second to second. This one had a keyhole in it, adding light to the dark.

Flowers, of course, are ephemeral, blooming for a short time. My husband gave me an orchid for my birthday this year, and it bloomed for quite a while before dying back. I took dozens of photos of it!

I captured that one blossom gradually opening. I wished that orchid had lasted longer.

Waves on the water are by their nature ephemeral, never the same. One of my favorite fountains, in a shopping mall, is a very simple machine, but I always find it enchanting when I go there. I always spend a few minutes simply gazing at the way the water cascades down the tall sheet of thick glass, marveling at the leading-edge wave patterns. I captured it with video.

The birds we see in our yard are ephemeral, in that they are always moving, and rarely stick around very long. The past couple of months, we were blessed with a brand new bird visiting our yard, and he only came around just once. Another new bird to add to my life list that I keep in the back of my 1960s edition of the Roger Torrey Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds.

Do you have Pileated Woodpeckers where you live?

Another big bird is an occasional visitor to our yard, and he is as distinctive as the woodpecker. Just a different color!

Steller’s Jay

Reflections are ephemeral, especially in water. No two seconds show the same patterns. I took these on my local Silver Lake on an autumn afternoon, capturing two ephemeral things-fall colors and ripples in the water.

Here’s the LINK to Tina’s Original Post.