When Nature Calls

So, yesterday, I decide to go leaf-hunting. See, it is beginning to look a lot like fall here, and I had heard it was going to rain, and a co-worker told me if it rained, all the leaves would fall of because it was so dry ... and well, yeah, The Weather Channel said, too, that it was going to rain. And I have yet to get a good “fall” photo, so I figure I will head out to the lake, see what I can find ... and in my mind, I have the perfect scenario pictured, trees of every color, postcard-like, blah blah blah. And I come across several scenes like this one, driving along, first past the lake and then to the state park, but I realize, eventually, that I am not going to find anything to shoot, really, unless I get out of the car. So on a warm (but not hot) day that I am glad is overcast so the shadows will not be too harsh, I decide to walk the hiking/biking trail that I last walked sometime shortly after my father died, back in 1991.

Back then, I remember thinking the path was too long, and I had no way of knowing where I would end up. And it was winter, but relatively warm, and in fact in places the ground was rather soft, and I had not thought to wear boots, so my tennis shoes (!!) got muddy.

Yesterday, too, I am wearing tennis shoes, and though the path is now graveled, I fuss at myself, just a little, because at home I have at least 3 pairs of boots/shoes that are more suitable for hiking (hard bottoms, which would keep my feet from feeling the rocks beneath my K-Swiss Ascendors that, sadly, are no longer being manufactured, so now I am going to have to find a new shoe for tennis ... but I suppose that is neither here nor there).

: )

As I walk down the path, I believe I hear rain, occasionally. I stop, and I realize the noise is not rain, rather leaves. Hitting the ground with an occasional soft Tkk! Tkk! And suddenly, I want to photograph a falling leaf. Though I know it will be difficult, I decide to give it a try as I mosey along.

In the meantime, I find:





(I almost tripped over these ... which is funny, considering I cannot even find a single morel when I hunt for them in the spring!)





And before I left, I shot this one. A falling leaf. Which reminds me of a guy I know, a little, whose name is Troy. And he goes by Falling Leaf.



And then I got another one. And then I left.



Some random thoughts on the day ...

1. I am not an outdoors kinda girl. I would like to be, but I am not. I do have hopes, someday, of living in a cabin in the woods and just writing, writing, writing all day ... in-between nature walks and what-not. I will shave my head, too ... at least during the summer.

2. As Ray Stevens says: EVERYthing is beautiful. Sometimes I do not notice until I look at something, close up ... or from far, far away. Like a Monet.

3. Pain reminds me that I am alive. Like the rocks under my tennis shoes. Or thorns across my right shin.