Friday Photos

Just now the world around me changes more than my routes do. Plant life cycles seem to proceed more quickly as the fall advances, hastening toward fruition before the freeze up of winter arrives. Though they seemed more static in the summer, that must be more a reflection of the focus of my gaze, my lack of real attention, than of the life cycle of the plant. Perhaps the very abundance of summer's height encourages a gaze more general, or is it a gaze more fleeting? Perhaps as the leaves begin to drop, plants to die back, I am more directly present. But, it is true that I am actually trying to pay more attention, to be more here, more wherever it is that I am. It is perhaps a combination of season and intention.

Certainly though,  earlier in the year the jack in the pulpit plant might have been missed by someone cycling by. The seeds won't be missed now. Curious how, as the plant withers and disappears, its seeds become flamboyant, vivid next to the nearby wild ginger and ferns.

The grasses at water's edge glow with the morning light, their colors richer than earlier in the year. Or am I seeing them with a different eye?

And there are apples everywhere. Sometimes smelled before seen, as they rot and ferment on the side of the road; sometimes breaking tree branches under the weight of such abundance. Sometimes invading porches, finding repose there, like this one under the bike.