Out My Bedroom Window

I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and have lived in the same house my entire life. My bedroom is in the front of our ranch style home, and my double window with dividing panes faces east with a fantastic view of the Sandia Mountains. However, for most of the year, the mountains are only visible to me from the far outside edges of my window. In front of my window grows an Eastern Redbud which provides glorious shade for the majority of the year, blocking out the sun's radiant heat from my room.

My view changes depending on the time of the day and the season of the year. With the mountains to the east, the night sky fades every day long before the glowing sun appears in the sky. Most days the sky above the mountains is a brilliant blue, but occasionally the mountains disappear in low gray clouds, and you would never know they were there. Even more striking is when the long, thin white clouds divide the mountain top from the rest of the earth, generally appearing to originate from behind an outcrop.

A gray, bubbling bird bath stands underneath the Redbud tree. When the temperature is not freezing, the bird bath is filled with sparkling, splashing water. Tiny sparrows and big fat robins often enjoy a refreshing drink. Occasionally, a bright blue mountain jay will swoop in for a drink and a bath. The sparrows with their touch of dark red are the most frequent visitors, dunking their heads in the water, raising it back up with the water rolling down their backs while they flutter their wings in their bath.

My home is on a breakpoint. The street in front of my home is intersected by another road coming down the hill. It's a bit weird, but typical Albuquerque. My home is on one street and is numbered north/south, yet the home directly across the street has an east/west numbered address on a different street. Because the hill is steep, I can see several homes facades and front yards out my window. Earth colors for houses are very much the norm here, so they are all variants of brown, light brown, beige, light brown with a hint of peach, or yellowish-brown. Surprisingly, three of the homes have shade trees in their front yards, ash trees and purple plums, though none of them have any grass in the front yards, only gray river rock of various sizes and shades.

The Eastern Redbud tree stretches almost as wide as it is tall. Spring finds the tree loaded with tight dark fuchsia buds, curled close to the branches. As the weather warms, the buds explode covering the tree with tiny bright pink flowers. And soon, the tightly curled leaves at the end of the tender branches begin unrolling, showing their bright green, petite, heart shaped leaves. As the buds fade, or more likely with our strong spring winds, blow away, more and more leaves appear, diminutive at first, but rapidly increasing in size. With the tree enveloped in the thick coverage of leaves, birds sitting in the tree are more likely heard before they are seen. As summer progresses, hundreds of seed pods form along the branches. They begin as thin chartreuse green pods, generally growing in cluster. As they mature, they dry up, fade to a dull beige, wave in the wind, and finally fall to the ground.

As the day draws to a close, if the weather is clear, the Sandia's transform in color from their gray granite, to their namesake color, watermelon. The monsoon season in late summer provides opportunities to view rainbows in the late afternoon, sometimes full, occasionally double, oftentimes partials as the monsoon rains often cover only a small area of the city.

After the leaves dry up and are blown off the trees, the view of the mountains is once more greater in grandeur. It also means, the night sky outside my window will soon be glowing for several hours each night, and the holidays are soon approaching. Orange lights are strung throughout the tree branches in October signaling Halloween's impending arrival. Then darkness is there once more for a few weeks, followed by lighted snowflakes and orbs of bright lights hanging amongst the branches. The area above my window glows from the white icicle lights strung along the eaves. Across the street, the house front lined with three arches, and the double arches over the garage doors are lit with multicolored strands of lights.

I haven't been home since last Christmas vacation. It will be interesting to see the view out my bedroom window when I go home.