I picked up this leaf a few hours ago. Already the contrast between the yellow side of the leaf with the bright green stripe down the center, and brilliant orangey red are fading. When I saw it in the sun the colors were vibrant.
So what does a 1987 edition of Atlas of the World have to do with Autumn? Everything and nothing. On my daily walk, I thought of something my family did every year, without fail. We'd all pile into the car, drive to a state park and hike the trails - expressly to rustle through the leaves and collect "pretty" ones. We'd come home, lay the leaves between two pieces of wax paper and press them between the pages of the dictionary or encyclopedia.
I have NO idea what we did with them from there, but for years to come, I found pressed leaves in an assortment of old books. And so it is that I picked up a few leaves on my walk today. They're safely nestled amid the pages of the Reader's Digest Atlas of the World. I need more red ones. In fact, I found one outside my work place. Its now tucked under some manuals on my desk. Tomorrow I'll transport it home.
Perhaps I'll trace them and create a meandering quilt pattern. Perhaps I'll venture into dying my own fabric. Or perhaps I'll forget about them completely - happy in knowing they took me down memory lane.
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