[ A bright yellow, ovate leaf sits on bright green grass. Half of it is laying flat, mostly shaded; the other half sits nearly vertical, sun shining through a few small brown-edged gaps. ]
Fall is so beautiful in town here. The cottonwoods in the park go bright yellow (as do the aspens throughout town), but the grass stays green until we’ve had a few good hard freezes. I couldn’t resist taking a bunch of leaf pictures — far more than wound up in this post.
[ Another cottonwood leaf, this one with far more brown spots in the yellow, with wider gaps in between. An entirely brown leaf sits in the grass next to it. ]
The whole time I was farting around with my camera, of course, Loiosh was being a wigglebutt. Why was I crawling around in the grass, he wanted to know, instead of petting him? Why?
Cats. They do not see the beauty in fallen leaves.
[ A close view of an entirely brown leaf. About half of it is shaded, and each tiny vein and darker brown spot is clearly visible. ]
Nor do they understand the joy of creating art, but that was later that day.
In the meantime? More leaf.
[ A green, elliptically shaped leaf buried in the grass. ]
The plaintain was all still green — I need to bring a spade & grab a couple next summer so I can plant them at home & see how they do, but for now, I’ll just enjoy the fact that they’re right there in the park. Free medicine!
Speaking of free medicine …
[ The fluffy white head of a dandelion. The long, narrow, dark brown seeds are visible through the fluff; the stem is reddish-brown. ]
I used to harvest all the dandelion & plantain leaves that went into the bite, sting & rash salve, & someday I hope to be able to do that again. In the meantime, at least they’re THERE.
Is this mushroom medicine? Is it food? I do not know! I don’t mess with mushrooms unless they come from the grocery store. Actually I don’t mess with them at all, I’m not terribly fond of the texture. But they’re pretty!
[ A small, white, round mushroom lies buried in the grass. It has a neato kinda bumpy texture. ]
I’d probably have come home with a couple decent squirrel pics, too, but alas, they take Loiosh far more seriously than I feel they really need to. I get their point, though, you never know when you’re gonna get eaten by a cat.
