How can a cypress tree have so many colors?

 Wittgenstein said that philosophy is an attempt to get rid of a particular kind of puzzlement, the puzzlement of language. For example, he said, the concept of the color wheel allows us to talk of greenish blue, but not of greenish red.

I know what he means, of course. And still, still, I think of that remark every day on the creek, as we a pass the cypress trees, which are riotous combinations of greens, reds, rusts, maroons and almost-purples.

It’s hard to imagine how a natural thing can be so many shades of red and so many shades of green at the same time. No Christmas decoration can match them.

The change in color has been going on for months. A reader reminded me that it’s been a while since he’d seen a report from the creek.

So here goes.

Zarzamora Creek is on the edge of two regions: the brush country of South Texas and the Hill Country of Central Texas. The weather patterns are predictable. Warm, moist air creeps up from the Gulf of Mexico, about 150 miles away. Then a front of cold, dry air will move south from the Great Plains, chase the fog off and wring the moisture out of the air in a quick downpour. It’ll be cold and clear for a few days until the warm, moist air starts creeping back again.

Such is winter along Zarzamora Creek.

The air from the Gulf of Mexico has been winning the tug of war recently. Through the holidays, the highs mostly have been in the 70s, and lows in the 60s. It was 83 on Christmas Day.

Gunter, the German shepherd, gets us to the creek almost every day. Twice a day, when he’s rambunctious.

I should have reported that the shovelers have arrived and are rounding up the minnows and small fish in the creek. These lovely ducks form a circle, and swim in one direction, gradually tightening the circle around a school of fish.

More scaups have arrived, along with mallards and a few goldeneyes. They mix in with the domestic ducks and geese that live on the lake year-round. One kingfisher is hanging out at the upper end of the lake but won’t let me get a close look. I’ve seen several Great blue herons.

A single swan appeared on the lake a couple of months ago. We’d seen a couple of swans on Woodlawn Lake, 2.5 miles north. I’m guessing one flew south for the winter. He’s tame and comes when people bring bread to feed the ducks and geese.

But the real show on the creek has been the cypress trees. 

New England and the North Woods have their autumn leaves. I’ve seen and admired them. But if you like color, look for the cypress trees along a Texas creek.