my pandora radio mix tells me what i already knew, that i tend to prefer music in a minor key, although i know others, including some in my household, who prefer upbeat, major scale music. similarly, when it comes to art and fashion, i shy away from primary colors, and will steer, almost in spite of myself, toward a secondary palette. so if you ask me, the colors in these autumn leaves ring out in a perfect minor visual chord.

virginia creeper (aka woodbine) vine leaves in september

vadnais lake trail, minnesota

it is said that an infinite number of monkeys tapping randomly on an infinite number of keyboards would eventually type out the exact script of Hamlet. The image above is certainly less remarkable than that, but really, now many people have made a corsage out of some pretty leaves and fall flowers, only to discover that the leaves were goldenrod and the flowers were not flowers at all, but rather goldenrod midge galls, a tertiary gall type specific to goldenrod? i mean maybe not infinite, but the odds are pretty long.

goldenrod leaves in september accompanied by goldenrod midge galls

grass lake trails, shoreview, minnesota

our home sits snugly beneath a number of hundred year old oak trees. in the nine years we have owned the house, i can’t remember their leaves’ ever being this colorful. most years they seem just to dry up, crisping from green to russet brown, and then rattling in the winter winds until almost the following spring. it’s sugar maples that get all the attention. but so far this year, our maples are still green, and the oldest trees in our yard, the white oaks, are dropping little gems–citrine, garnet, topaz and rubies–onto our deck. maybe it’s just the result of a wet summer. or maybe the oaks heard that steve and i, fellow old-timers, will soon be adding a 25th growth ring to our marriage, and that in such a case, gems are in order.

white oak leaves in fall colors

saint paul, minnesota

ok i’m used to sumac starting on fire this time of year, but switchgrass? why has everyone been hiding this from me?

switchgrass in autumn

vadnais lake trail, saint paul, minnesota

these guys decided not to mourn the coming of winter. they decided to party just a little bit harder.

unidentified mop-headed weeds (help! nettle family???)

vadnais lake trail, saint paul, minnesota