find your passion

find your passion. follow your bliss. i really don’l like these kinds of prescriptive statements. they sit wrong with me. finding your passion, or your purpose, is one of the most difficult things a human can strive for. furthermore, i don’t believe this is just one passion or purpose for each person. some of us may have dozens, some of us only one or two.  so whenever someone says “find your passion” to me, i reply, “oh, i found it! i put it in a pot on my deck in the summer, and overwinter it in the basement under grow lights.”

passion flower (Passiflora)

allelopathic

i am working with the United State Botanical Garden in Washington DC on a commission for a large shadowbox display on the black walnut tree. in preparation for that, i cut these tree circles to use in the display. can you believe how gorgeous black walnut wood is? the dark centers are called the heartwood, and the light outer circles are called the sapwood. black walnut trees are allelopathic, meaning they excrete chemicals into their environment that harm competition. records of walnut toxicity to other plants have been observed as far back as the first century when Pliny the Elder wrote: “The shadow of walnut trees is poison to all plants within its compass.”

eastern American black walnut tree circles (Juglans nigra)

tertiary colors

wow. i really prefer the tertiary color palettes of november to the  primary and secondary palettes of september and october. this photo make me happy. i want to linger. the colors, for me, a calming. they sit self assuredly on the page, and aren’t trying to wiggle away or pick fights with their neighbors. i could upholster my furniture with these colors. and paint my walls these colors. a living palette i could  live with.

november leaves

those stubborn oaks

every year i have to do two fall clean-ups. one right after the Big Leaf Drop, when 70% of the leaves in my yard are down, and then i have to do it all again, just before First Snow, to get all the oak leaves mulched. and even then, many of the oaks will hold onto their leaves all winter long, and not let go of them until the new leaf growth pushes them out next spring. what’s up with that oak trees?  why so stingy about giving up your leaves? i’m sure there’s a good reason. nature is rarely random. but, no one seems to know why you hold onto those curled and dried leaves all winter long.

red oak leaves in late autumn

detailed patterning

aren’t these feathers something? i look at the detailed patterning on those feathers and all i can think about is the millions of years of trial-and-error evolution is took to create such exquisite camouflage.

ruffed grouse wings and tail feathers (Bonasa umbellus)