Crunching about in the woods this last week with a crisp carpet of fallen leaves beneath my feet I was remembering how much I use to enjoy playing in the leaves on fall days as a child — wonderful play. I’ve noticed I wasn’t the only one enjoying the fall woods and it’s fallen leaves, as attested by the beautiful photos of Mark Graf.
When you think about the sheer volume of leaves a hardwood forest can produce it’s rather amazing how quickly they disintegrate into a rich mulch on the forest floor. Mother earth is indeed an expert recycler if we let her be.
However, not all leaves lay where they fall. I’ve caught some in these last two photos hitching rides upon streams no doubt ending up far from where they began.
Mankind often thinks itself outside of nature, somehow in control. But I believe that thinking is narrow minded and not viewing the bigger picture. I’m not sure our brains can comprehend just how much bigger that picture may be.
Love that first image with the soft tones. My memories of leaves are of an aching back from raking them and very little play time with them. I also wonder at times about the decaying process nature provides, a death and rebirth of the system. Hope you enjoy the weekend.
Monte, thanks. My playing in the leaves are mostly many years past and at that time my parents were doing the raking. Recent memories are of those same aches you mentioned. You have a great weekend also.
Well, the cold has arrived here Earl and I won’t find myself just wandering about the woods as much. :-) Thanks much for the linkback and nice words. It is quite extraordinary to think about all the processes that go on in just a small piece of woodland, then multiply that the world over, add in the oceans, and you get lost pretty quickly. Throw in the universe, and wow, it is something one could spend their whole life thinking about and never even peel back one layer.
I wish I had more moving streams closely, mostly they are stagnant ponds from flooding. There is a larger river, but it is much too wide to give intimate scenes like you captured here.
With the recent “strange” weather patterns you could be having warmer temperatures again in a few days, Mark.
…and then beyond the universe? I don’t think my mind has anywhere near the capacity to even comprehend a small portion of this “place” we find ourselves existing in. We are like a microscopic speck, on a minuscule speck, in a drop of water in a nearly limitless ocean. How egotistical to think we are much more then that.
Thanks…and I look at how you beautifully convey those “stagnant ponds” and think — “Wow, I’d like to have that to photograph.” :-)
I don’t think most people would consider the idea that they are insignificant, especially Americans. We ARE the center of the universe, after all.
Beautiful photos, Earl.
Ken, thanks. Of course your right…only we Americans know the right path. ;-)
Nice images, Earl! I remember fondly playing in leaves when I was young – making big piles of them and burying myself. What a wonderful smell and sound they made! I still love walking through them and listening to the crunching. Life’s simple pleasures are often the best.
Amen to that, John!
These three photos are beautiful and are certainly a perfect expression of fall. Makes me wish I was there, scrunching leaves under-foot, helping the decomposition process along.
Cedric, that’s much about why this is my favorite time of year. Thanks!
Oh, I love the second photo, the leaves in the spring. It didn’t appear to me what it was, I was drawn to it by it’s form and colours. Beautiful!
Ove, thanks.