The Mast-Head: Leaf Watching

Leaves are starting to emerge on the trees outside my office window on the second floor of the Star. I get melancholy about this each year because they both cut off my view of the proceedings that go on in front of the East Hampton Library and because they signal that the off-season is coming to an end.

The library makes for good people-watching, something my mind probably tends to, given my profession. That I am no longer a reporter means that I am free to imagine stories about what and who I see, like a teenaged couple last week who first were clenched in a tender embrace then moments later exchanging words on the sidewalk. The boy appeared nervous about the whole thing, shifting on his feet from left to right and back again, while the girl gave him the business. What it was about I could not say, but it was hard to look away. 

I have been at this window long enough to have seen the Amazing Dancing Kid, who used to hang around waiting for a ride, grow into a more subdued young adult. When I first put my chair near the south-facing glass, he was a fast-spinning 10 or 11, with footwork that James Brown might have envied. Now, 12 years later, I see only hints of his glorious moves and even then only occasionally as he waits by the road.

The leaves shield the traffic, which, I suppose, is good. When the trees are full, only its noise indicates that summer is approaching and all hell is breaking loose. Still, I get a little sinking feeling knowing that the moment is just but weeks away when year-rounders start feeling like strangers in their own town.

Leaves on the trees mean that we have to begin planning our trips once we leave the house. For a visit to Southampton from our house in Amagansett we have to budget an hour, and we probably are still going to be late. Errands must be done early and not at all on the weekends. We half-seriously say goodbye to friends whom we may find difficult to see again until fall.

But the leaves also mean the days are longer, which provides time to spend with family or outdoors doing the things we like. What the leaves signify is not all bad, and in a few months they will be turning red and orange and falling again.