Treasures

Autumn in the mountains. The stunted alpine blueberry bushes turn red as garnets, and the willows become a subtle topaz. Snow dusts the tops of mountains like crystals, and the dark spruce trees seem like garnets scattered about the hills. A sharp chill lingers in the air, the sky endlessly blue as sapphires. And just when it’s all about to end, the days tangibly shorter and the seemingly inevitable darkness, the crown jewel of them all returns: the northern lights dance purple like amethysts in the sky and winter’s cold arrival doesn’t seem so bad after all.