As I look out the window of my cabin in the forest, days of torrential rains are shaking loose the last of the leaves clinging to the oak trees. I look up at those quivering leaves and remember when they were just verdant green new buds bursting into young vibrant leaves, holding the promise of summer. That memory is activated by the trees and their cycle of life. I have been watching this forest and her wild inhabitants for 20 years. From the new buds, to the brilliant green of young leaves darkening as spring turns to summer providing cool shade.  Ever so slowly in late summer as the lighting…