My Favorite Oak

I'd estimate that 10% of the leaves on this particular oak tree have turned red. I'll add that this business of converting fall colors observations into percentages and trying to pin down a "peak" makes me very uncomfortable. There's the feel of commercialization behind it. There's also the feel of some sort of contest. As I wandered around my neighborhood this morning and took a brief drive up to Snake Lake and Meadow Valley, I was looking for photogenic subjects and also scouting for a location for the next session of my Adventures in Nature Journaling class that meets Saturday morning. I saw lots of pretty leaves and scenes, some of which I'll share with our local Visitors Bureau. I must say, though, my most exciting observation of the day was the centipede under a rock where I keep my trash can. Unfortunately it was too fast for me to get a good photo. I decided not to post a blurry one. Might try again this afternoon.
I keep asking myself, "What would Thoreau think of this 'leaf peeper' business?" Then I get an ever stronger urge for solitude. Maybe these thoughts are related to my attitude about changing our significant holidays to Mondays for the benefit of commercial entities. Today is the "real" Columbus Day. It is my parents' 71st wedding anniversary. My mom, being of Italian descent, considers this date to be very special. In recent years, as i've become closer to the Native American community, I appreciate that this date is celebrated by many as Indigenous Peoples Day. Mr. Columbus, after all, was not a very nice fellow. Now that I've got that off my chest, I'm going to select some more photos from this morning's wanderings and will post them later today.