i have three favorite color pairs: black & white, navy blue and white, and my current crush, yellow and gray. here is what color psychologists have to say about the classic yellow and gray combination: gray is practical, timeless, solid.  yellow is sunshine, laughter, happiness and good times. i’ll take that in a favorite color pair. in fact, i’ll take that in a best friend.

yellow hawthorn leaf on gray wasp nest paper

island lake trail, shoreview, minnesota

it was the color of those leaves that caught my attention. but it was the single little striped fruit that kept me interested. like making small talk at a party with someone in a great dress, only to find out they also have a wicked sense of humor.

false solomon’s seal with red fruit in october

rice creek regional trail, saint paul, minnesota

sure, these leaves are pretty. and technically they each serve the purpose of identifying a particular species. but their value to me is not their perfect colors or their diagnostic qualities. i picked these up in 24 different places, and i just need to look at each one to remember the location, the time of day, and even the weather. the leaves themselves don’t even exist anymore in many cases. but those places do.

a collection of found autumn leaves

all from minnesota

if STILL blog had a quarterly publication, this would definitely be our COLOR issue. never can i remember a more colorful two weeks.  usually our autumns are stretched over six weeks: an initial two weeks of flaming sumac leaves, followed by two weeks of yellow poplar and red maples, and finally two weeks of orange and russet oaks. but this year, the whole season was condensed into the same two week period. holy moley. nothing is off limits. everything is fair game: trees are three or more colors, there are whole rows of oaks with every tree a different and distinct color.  and i’m seeing every shade of orange that can be imagined: peach, salmon, coral, tangerine, tomato…

maple branch with red and yellow october leaves

from my yard, saint paul, minnesota

because this is the most colorful fall season i can remember, i have begun returning from my walks with a standard warning: “i’m bringing more nature into the house!” my kitchen floor may or may not still be covered with ceramic tile, but no one will know until i remove about a dozen armloads of leaves, branches, bark, grasses, fungi, seed pods, wild fruits, feathers, pine cones, rocks, birds nests, wasp nests, and at least one dead red bellied snake. all i remember is how i felt last march, when i would have given anything for a spot of color that wasn’t brown or gray. ill take all this color gratefully until it’s gone.

an assemblage of october finds

rice creek, grass lake, and sucker lake hiking trails; saint paul, minnesota