the laaaaaaaast melon!
Does anyone remember the line “The laaaaaaast melon?” from the original Pixar Ice Age movie? Well, this may very well be the laaaaast fresh (non-pressed) leaf for the season 2026. Tonight we will get our first frost, on the heels of two days of blustery cold rain. The party ends tonight. And I am exhausted, I actually feel a little like I have a party hangover. I think it is simply a minor body-reaction to a recent Covid vaccine booster. Whatever it is––a leaf-party-to-end-all-leaf-parties hangover or a covid vaccine hangover, the result is the same: It is 6:08 PM as I time, and I am heading to bed. See you tomorrow!
horse chestnut leaf in fall (Aesculus hippocastanum)
before-and-after (1 or 2)
This is the first time I am trying a double post: a before and after, 24 hours apart. I have been doing a lot of these before-and-after pairs lately; Primarily because it it just Steve and me in the house now, so I can leave my STILL specimens on the floor, where I photographed them for as long as I want! No dog. No kids. Just a little accumulated dust to contend with. Of course, I would rather have the dog back, and the kids home again, but such is life.
Interrupted fern fronds in November (Claytosmunda)
-
Typical autumn, rich warm colors, lovely symmetry, my fave of the two.
reply
before-and-after (2 or 2)
This is the first time I am trying a double post: a before and after, 24 hours apart. I have been doing a lot of these before-and-after pairs lately; Primarily because it it just Steve and me in the house now, so I can leave my STILL specimens on the floor, where I photographed them for as long as I want! No dog. No kids. Just a little accumulated dust to contend with. Of course, I would rather have the dog back, and the kids home again, but such is life.
Interrupted fern fronds in November (Claytosmunda)
-
One Halloween monster chasing another. While not my first choice, it has action and excitement in my eye.
reply
not yet leaving the leaves
I absentmindedly picked up these two leaves because I liked the contrast of their rich colors. I thought I would add them to my growing, almost-out-of-control piles of workshop material, and maybe photograph them later. But in my cupped palm, as I walked back to the house, they slid into this position, like two hands with different colored skin connecting palm to palm. I thought, well, maybe the day after an election is the right day to post this image. Anyway, here’s to grasping for moments of whispered unity when division runs shouting through the streets.
two white oak leaves in November (Quercus alba)
-
This morning I asked Gordon (my husband) what he saw in this photo. Without reading your description he said, “I see the rebirth of American democracy” and through our discussion, this poem emerged:
A DIFFERENT METAPHOR
We have alienated ourselves and others,
Isolating our own wrong thoughts
Into statues of rightness, immovable.
It is the worst hell—
Where binary choices halt choosing.
“Reach across the aisle,” they said.
But “they” did not see the clubs in our hands
And the violence we would do.
We need a different metaphor.
Rest yourselves now—two leaves in the palm of a hand,
Maintaining shape while sharing space.
Experience what could be true—
Difference that doesn’t divide
Dialogue that doesn’t distort.
Reawaken to hope,
Where choices make change,
And history has its turning points.reply -
Number 2 has exuberance written all over it. Perhaps because I am 86 years old nd still feel like dancing wildly like these two are
reply
blushing symmetry
Burning bush is indeed remarkable in autumn. But my favorite ones are the bushes that do not get enough sun, and turn pink in fall instead of scarlet red. The softer the pink, the better as far as I am concerned. The beautiful symmetry––both horizontal and vertical––of these leaves make them one of my favorite materials to make repeating patterns and tessellations with. But alas, it takes patience to line up all those leaves just so, and this autumn has been so unusual and splendid that it is taking every minute of free time I have just to capture it before it all disappears on the wind.
burning bush in autumn (Euonymus alatus)
It is the harmony of the diverse parts,
their symmetry, their happy balance;
in a word it is all that introduces order,
all that gives unity,
that permits us to see clearly and to comprehend at once
both the ensemble and the details.
–Henri Poincare
-
This photo affected me deeply and in the course of a day that was extremely chaotic, it brought calm.
EUONYMUS ALATUS
“What is your name and what does it mean?” I asked,
Of the winged Presence in front of me.
But she did not answer.
Instead, she hurled her arms into the wind
And danced with abandon—
A goddess at play.
Caught up in the pink and white
The noise of the world lessened
And settled into still.
“I AM WHO I AM—the good name with wings.”
I removed my shoes.
The place was holy.reply
