The End is Only the Beginning

So Autumn is heavily upon us here in the northern midwest state of Ohio. I usually don't like the Fall season. It portends colder temperatures which I don't like and also the ending of flowers and meadows which I love so much. Fall actually brings me a bit of anxiety with it's process of ending the summer revelry...

But this photo is intriguing for me. I see it as two youngster leaves eager to join in the Fall festivities. Even before the older, elder leaves have begun their journey into wintertime and their next incarnation, the young leaves have jumped into the spirit of the season with full force.

What does this mean for me exactly? I'm not totally sure. Something about eager anticipation, the rush of youth, trust in the future, unconditional acceptance.

The juvenile leaves aren't afraid of the ending which Autumn signals -- they have embraced it as the beginning of an adventure into the unknown.

Lessons from a Grasshopper

You've gotta start somewhere... Just do it... One step at a time...

I watched this grasshopper for several minutes as she negotiated the challenge of the vertical obstacle she wanted to overcome.

Of course she could have jumped using all the power of her back legs. She's very good at jumping. But in this situation jumping would have led to a nice headache.

So instead, the grasshopper slowly and carefully stepped off of the piece of wood while reaching with her front legs.

She then used her back legs, the jumping legs, for support only. The grasshopper steadied herself for a few moments, with her jumping legs stilled, until she found her bearings and felt comfortable.

After some time the grasshopper felt strong enough to release the back leg of support and grasp the wall fully with all four of her legs.

She then scrambled up the wall and jumped over it to be rewarded with the open patch of grass on the other side.

Mutual Curiosity

I love my suburban backyard wildlife habitat....

This little chipmunk was so brave to peek around the fence slat to see what I was up to as I wandered around the backyard looking for photo-ops. She/he seemed to be saying, "Who are you? What are you doing? Do you have a family? What are you all about?"

Or maybe it was I who wondered those things about her/him! :)

Cycle of Renewal

There is pretty much nothing better than fresh fruit or vegetables right off the tree/bush/vine or whatever.

I took this luscious photo, "Apples in a Basket" in Russia, at the dacha house (summer cottage home). The dacha only has electricity and no running water. We spent our weekends there during my time in Russia and I loved every minute of it. This basket was filled in preparation to take back to the city so we could eat apples all week long.

My morning ritual at the dacha was to wake up and go outside to the "outhouse" and then pick a fresh apple right off the tree to eat as my morning toothbrushing session and breakfast appetizer.

As I walked the land and chomped on the fruit, knowing that when I was done I would throw the core onto the compost heap to later become sustenance for new growth, I relaxed into a calm sense of the tangible cycle of renewal of which, in my own small way, I was a part.