Autumn 2024 was escaping fast; my god it raced through November... but I hoped to still squeeze in more colorful sylvan sights before all goes bare. Eight years previous Flora led me to the Overlook Park neighborhood in northeast Portland, Oregon. The "overlook" aspect of the eleven acre park is that it's perched on a bluff above the Willamette River, the large waterway that dissects the city into eastern and western sections. The city of Portland acquired the property and established a public space in 1930. Today the roaming acreage overlooks a noisy industrial/shipping area and behind that to the Fremont Bridge which arches into downtown Portland. I suppose the view was more attractive in 1930 than what we see now, but that's the way it goes.
American elm, July 30, 2016 
The park is largely an open green lawn with a queen-sized elm tree in the middle, Ulmus americana. When I first saw the huge tree eight years ago it was in its summer glory and it dwarfed my family standing in front. I vowed at the time to return in early spring when buds would open, and then again in autumn to see if it would produce a haze of yellow color (I supposed). Unfortunately, now eight years later in November, there was nary a leaf attached to any twig; I might have been even a month too late for that, but I enjoyed her elegance disrobed just as much, probably more. She is only 19 minutes away by car from my new home so I have already made a date for early April to watch her wake up, then I'll pay more attention next fall to see my elm before the leaves are all gone.
Ulmus americana is an eastern USA species, so Overlook's specimen was likely planted after the park was established in 1930. On the southern edge are a couple of old Black walnuts, Juglans nigra, also of eastern USA origin. The lawn is short and even and five healthy boys were in a spirited game of keep-away soccer, three on two in the still foggy-cloudy afternoon. As a young boy I would have been out there with them, equaling the sides.
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