bronzed

i mostly posted this image because of that blurry spiderweb of a shadow along the lower right side of the leaf. on the other hand, the leaf does look as if it has been plated in bronze doesn’t it? it reminds me of a story when i was a kid. a lot of people used to cast their children’s baby shoes in bronze to commemorate how precious their childhood was. if you said you had something “bronzed” it meant you loved it so much that you were willing to encase it in precious metal to enhance its value. when i was a kid we used to say that someone was so stupid, “if he won a gold medal, he’d have it bronzed.” there you go. your joke for the weekend.

white oak skeleton leaf

pulling back

the mission statement for STILL blog, if there were such a thing, would say that it posts one image a day of nature found around me, photographed against a white background. that mission has generally expressed itself as micro bits of nature, or tabletop arrangements, photographed on white paper. but i looked at this photo today, among many i took in a flurry (ahem) of snowfall-inspired images, and i realized it met all of the criteria of a STILL blog image. nature, check. found around me, check. against a white background, check. i just pulled back a little bit on this one, and changed the scale. i love it.

reverence

in our woods, old oaks are like gods among the lesser mortals that surround them. this morning they even wore white beards, as they towered and judged. we know, o quercus. we are not worthy.

snow covered oak branches

taking aim

this buckthorn spine has spotted its victim. it lacks the power of locomotion. but makes up for it with an immense power of patience and focus. the finger it will bloody has no idea what’s coming.

buckthorn branch with spines (rhamnus)

whatever it takes

my fifteen year old son got a nod of approval recently from his girlfriend for his creativity. so suddenly i have a collaborator again. together we cut up the potted anthurium plant i’ve had for a year but never got around to transplanting out of its original cheap plastic container. i have mixed feelings about my son having a girlfriend already. but hey, the girl got him to make art for an afternoon with his mom. so far, she’s a winner.

anthurium leaves