bad hair day

in autumn these foxtail spikes look more like silken hair. this fall, i hung a handful of stems to dry on a rack in a back room. when i checked in on them today, i found them all puffed up and bristly looking very much like their namesake. i have never seen them quite so bushy en plein air. perhaps i created an anomaly by hanging them to dry as i did. but i’m glad i did. it’s quite striking. or rather, transfixing. i truly can’t stop looking at it.

foxtail grass in winter (probably Hordeum jubatum)