i was faced late this afternoon with a choice between a simple photo of a single branch of interestingly textured oak leaves, or an ambitious photo involving patterns and shapes and several pints worth of dried sumac leaves crumbled and ground in a mortar and pestle. i had about 45 minutes to do one or the other. we have been particularly busy lately and sometimes when you have a lot on your plate it is actually easier to take on an ambitious project. for whatever reason, my husband said he liked the sumac leaf idea, i looked at the clock, and thought, “bring it on.”

crumbled leaf matter

saint paul, minnesota