never before

Steve and I collected these leaves outside our favorite Twin Cities fish market, Coastal Seafoods. We are making a seafood chowder for dinner tonight. I’ve never seen maple leaves do this before and had to stop and pick up an armful while Steve loaded the car. My guess is either that our late summer drought dried the delicate perimeter of these leaves while the center, closer to the stem, remained healthy; or that we had a touch of near-frost recently that had a similar effect. In any case, I’m enchanted by these little leaves within leaves. Now off to saute some vegetables.

unusual autumn maple leaves