if you think of those red streaks as something like graying hair, and those beetle and caterpillar nibbles as the earned blemishes of a certain age, then this leaf is evolving into a strikingly beautiful late middle age. ahh, but here’s the good part. summer leaves are only green because an overabundance of chloryphyll masks the other colors in the leaf that are present but invisible. which is another way of saying that this leaf is aging into its true self. may the same be said of all of us.

oak leaf in september

saint paul, minnesota

growing up in minnesota means growing up with the minnesota state fair which is still, i believe, the largest state fair in the country, and which has evolved into a foodie experience involving avant garde cuisine served on a stick. back when i was a kid, the state fair meant walking the midway and getting nauseous on unsafe carnival rides, then seeing farm animals, then drinking fresh milk in the dairy barn, then eating cotton candy, and finally, eating pronto pups, fried and battered hot dogs that were the original food on a stick. that is a very long way of saying how much these cattails remind me of pronto pups.

september cattails

saint paul, minnesota

when you are blond with some scandinavian blood and you go to high school and college in minnesota and wisconsin, everybody, and i mean everybody, has a cousin “who looks just like you.” so here are two unrelated northern species. i wonder if the willow leaf gets sick of hearing how much it looks just like a yellow-shafted flicker feather.

northern flicker tail feather, and autumn willow leaf

vadnais lake trail, saint paul, minnesota

i found every one of these feathers on a single walk along my favorite trail. it is a no dogs allowed trail, except that i brought my dog anyway, which makes me a bad dog owner, but not any worse a dog owner than i already was, as you would understand if you ever met my spoiled, ill behaved puggle with a sense of entitlement and a severe case of separation anxiety.

a collection of feathers found on one 8 km walk

vadnais lake trail, saint paul, minnesota

i spent about 5 years in my 30s reading every book on personal finance i could get my hands on. one of them talked about how the most common vehicle driven by millionaires was a ford f150. makes sense to me. all that wealth sitting unostentatiously in the bank gives you the peace of mind to show whatever face you want to the world. sort of like an oak sapling spending all year digging a tap root into rich soil before showing off a single, modest whorl of leaves.

white oak sprout in fall foliage

vadnais lake trail, saint paul, minnesota