suspended between seasons

the trees are naked. the the sky is gray. the soil is moist and dark. these are the two weeks of november, after the leaves have fallen, and before the snow blankets the ground, when the woods are tender and exposed. i feel protective. i want to reassure (it) that this is a temporary transition. that this is a time of uncertainty, but it will pass. for the time being, the job is to sit in the uncertainty. it is necessary.

assorted beach rocks (lake superior and mediterranean)

last bits of color

i spent the day today buttoning up the house for winter: putting away hoses, replacing screens with storm windows, moving pots into garage, and of course, raking. the leaves are completely down now, and mostly brown. but, a few bits of color could still be found. color is now the exception, not the rule. and that will be the case until next march. i like these annual rhythms. i am looking forward to this time of quiet and stillness. i understand the impulse to flea to warmer climates as we age. fighting the cold is tiring. but, i would miss this time of enforced dormancy. i have totally different rituals and rhythms in summer and winter. and i like them both equally.

fall leaves (maple, elm, birch, oak)

a cattail as metaphor for life

this somber seed-head going to fluff, and the jubilant waving abut of the leaves somehow captures my mood today. in a few hours, steve and i will be heading out to celebrate the birthday of one of our dearest friends–erik. what a tremendous gift erik has been in our lives. thinking about him makes me want to flail my leaves about in joyous celebration. meanwhile, there is the somber reality of our democracy going to fluff on this eve of the election. we live in crazy times. but there have been crazier times before this. this cattail will wait out the winter under the lake ice, and emerge again next spring vibrant and green and prepared to do its duty in the community in which it happened to be given life.

november cattail

twigs and branches already?

it’s a little early to be posting photos of bare branches. we will have plenty, some might say too much, of that in the coming months. but this is what caught me eye today.  a little volunteer sapling on the side of the road–it was on an on-ramp to a highway actually. i pulled to the side, put my hazard light on, and hopped out and lopped the branches before anyone even noticed. the flat plane of the branches. their repeating sinuous sweep. the white space created between them. it all spoke to me.

winding down on fall color

it’s done. for all intents and purposes it is over. 99% of the leaves are down. the only ones still hanging are, for the most part, non-native species like buckthorn and lilacs (i just learned that little factoid recently, by the way). the stretch from december to march is a looooooong one for STILL. i’m not saying i don’t like it. i rather like the daily challenge of creating something out of almost nothing. but alas, it does go on a bit long, even for a native minnesotan. so, while there are still colorful leaves blowing around in the gutters, i intend to use them.

red maple leaf in autumn