A Perfect Leaf

I have been taking full advantage of our wonderful, sunny (albeit cool) weather these days, to take daily walks around my neighbourhood. I have ripped 22 of the 32 CDs of Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" to my iPod Touch and between actually reading the book (which I have borrowed) and listening to it on my iPod Touch, I'm working my way through it. It also keeps me aurally entertained on my walks.

Today on my walk, I looked down and spotted the perfect maple leaf.

Its redness jumped out at me amid the predominantly yellow leaves on the sidewalk. And it was perfectly formed.

Harkening back to my Brownie days almost 50 years ago, I remembered we used to collect leaves in the autumn and iron them between two sheets of waxed paper sandwiched between sheets of regular paper. When I employed this technique today, it darkened the red a bit but it should keep it from getting all brittle and crumbling.

I guess there's no real way to preserve that vibrant red colour.

This year, we didn't really get a cold snap early in the fall where I live so also didn't get the wide array of colours as we usually do. However, it is still a beautiful time of year and will be until the last of the leaves fall.