Under the Maple Tree

When Julia made it to the base of the stairs, she could hear her parents talking with her sister, Jane, in the kitchen.  Julia could see Jane’s young daughters through the sitting room window, playing happily in the sunny backyard.  Julia smiled at the sight of her adorable young nieces, with their tiny faces framed by straight brown hair and the petite bodies covered in little floral sundresses.  The late May morning in the Pacific Northwest was beautiful, with spring’s blooms a myriad of flowers, all kinds, colors and sizes bursting everywhere.  The backyard was rimmed in rhododendrons and lilacs, with the pinks and purples filling the space and giving it a warm and welcoming appeal, especially when seen through the sitting room window, which was an old fashioned, multi-paned, cut-glass kind with dark wood trim.  The window seemed to multiply the number of blossoms through its prisms.