Stick Season

I've heard this called " Stick Season" . The leaves are all gone but the snow has yet to arrive. You drive around or just look out the window and all you see are sticks. Trees reduced to the substructure .  A couple weeks ago I got back from the hospital , from the second attempt at this leg problem. My personal sticks have an infection. When I got hit this summer I landed in the dirt.  There was a full canal only about 20 ft further on but my trajectory was a bit oblique to the best flight path. And a bit uphill. I'd have likely drowned and might not have been found for quite some time . But I'd have missed out on the home IV ordeal. I landed in a patch of trees instead, with lots of dirt.
     From my window at home I can see, across the road and a field and a power line cut there's a ridge of hardwoods. Maybe a quarter mile away. When the sun hits right there's a glow of bright red from bud tips where leaves will sprout next spring. I'm not sure what kind of trees they are. It's likely a mixed stand as most are around here. The low angle of the winter sun hits these nearly broadside . The tiny red sparks glare bright on a curtain of gray sticks over a field of old grass and low brush. It's the liveliest thing out there. They seem not so much heart as seeds.
     Winter is just beginning and I have a long uncertain way to go . I need them to be seeds.