Until this project, I had never really noticed, much less appreciated, the brilliant red of the sassafras leaves in autumn, accentuated by the way many of the leaves remain green while others abruptly turn.
Oct 202014
Oct 192014
A black cherry leaf, against blue sky, photographed on my Piney Woods Church Road saunter earlier today….
Oct 192014
I ventured out to Piney Woods Church Road shortly after noon today, and photographed this sweetgum leaf partially illuminated by the sun. In its pale green and dun spaces, I imagine a satellite image of another land, containing verdant forests and stark deserts.
Oct 182014
I could fill entire walls with images of muscadine leaves; or, of course, I could wander into my own backyard, where muscadine blankets practically everything. Another image from this afternoon’s Piney Woods Church Road ramble.
Oct 182014
I have never been particularly fond of Nepalese Brown-Top, a sort of miniature bamboo that is almost as invasive as the real thing. I have walked many a woodland with this grass as the dominant ground cover. The leaves are relatively uninteresting, the flowers minute and pink. But now, in the midst of autumn, a handful of the leaves are turning a brilliant red, while the others persist in green. What an unexpected plant to reveal the beauty of the autumn time!
Oct 172014
From today’s Piney Woods Church Road ramble, a curious photograph with a shadowy outline rather evocative of a goose.
Oct 172014
The wood oats along Piney Woods Church Road have all turned russet brown now. In the warm, breezy afternoon air, I watched the stalks swing to and fro, seed heads suspended like objects in a mobile or wind chimes.
Oct 162014
I find endless delight and inspiration in the beautiful forms of fallen leaves resting on the gravel bed of Piney Woods Church Road….
Oct 152014
Persimmon season is approaching. The persimmons are just about the right color, but still firm to the touch. Once they begin to get soft and mushy, then they will be ready. The coyotes in the area are less patient than I am, judging by all the persimmon seeds I saw in a pile of coyote dung I saw on the roadbed a few days ago (which I photographed, but couldn’t quite find the audacity to post here).
Oct 152014
I hurried out the door, bound for Piney Woods Church Road (as usual), but fresh from an interminable hour of paperwork for a new online teaching position. I had only forty-five minutes to find something photo-worthy, snap its picture, and race back to my waiting keyboard. Wednesdays are my longest work days — my last online seminar ends at 11 pm. I had an auspicious start to my walk — a doe in the backyard paused long enough for a few images. If only I were already on Piney Woods Church Road, I thought to myself….
The wind was blowing intermittently, the sky a leaden late afternoon gray when I begin walking down Piney Woods Church Road. For once, my journey was ruled by the watch — I had enough time to make it halfway only, and then to hurry back. I paused at a sassafras tree with some brilliant red leaves juxtaposed with many that were still green. Bright color, but not quite inspiring somehow. Sufficient, though. They would do in a pinch.
Where the woods ended and pastures (horse on the left, cattle on the right) began, I turned around to head back. And then I saw it about two feet above the ground — a flash of brilliant yellow. I was immediately drawn to this burst of light amid the gray. I sat on the ground to steady the camera on my knee, and took photo after photo. The one below is my favorite from the lot.
As I suspected, it is an evening primrose. There was another one further down the road, which bloomed back in April (Day 103, to be exact). But this is another species: The Common Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis), a native biennial reaching up to six feet in height, found throughout most of the United States and southern Canada. It has long been recognized as a healing plant, with names such as Cure All, Fever Plant, and King’s Cure All. It provides a pain-reliever for headaches, a remedy for skin ailments, and a treatment for arthritis. For me, in a hurry to resume work on a gray day, it offered a burst of sunlight and a moment of healing.
