“A Spot in Time”
At least twice each year I am left breathless by this view of the Chagrin River. Running parallel to River Rd., a half mile north of Fairmount, the river doglegs west only to make an abrupt turn a half mile later (visible in the foreground) as it continues north through Gates Mills.
By late April the deciduous forests gripping the steep eastern walls of the Chagrin escarpment begin coming to life. Almost imperceptibly, faint yellow and green hues bleed slowly into the landscape illuminating the Valley; and almost on cue, six months later, towards the end of October, the sublime senescence of autumn is suspended momentarily in time and vivid yet ephemeral color … until the inevitable storm arrives the last days of the month and this iconic scene, stripped of color and texture, is left to languish somberly into the next year.
