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