Tuesday, May 19, 2009

A Touch Of Ruby Dust


A touch of ruby dust... spice amid the green.
(Click picture to enlarge)
Posted by Picasa

"Painters use red like spice." ~ Derek Jarman (English Film Director, Stage Designer, Artist and Writer, 1942-1994)
In summer, the woods and brush in the preserve is thick with green leaves of all shapes and sizes... maple, oak, sweet gum, even a few fig leaves from the two trees we've planted. Here the fall foliage doesn't show up until mid-October so you can imagine my surprise when I saw this splash of red spice in late August. One limb with perfectly formed leaves... all done up in red.... surrounded by a sea of solid green.. no yellows or oranges or other splashes of red anywhere; just one branch, slightly ahead of its time. I thought it was worthy of a photo...

Of course, it is all an illusion... the green leaves of summer. The pigment that produces the glorious colors of autumn are there all the time... inside the individual cells of the leaf.. reds and yellows... all forms of chlorophyll. They are just hidden and over powered by the green form. Sometimes we are like that... something special and spectacular hides within us... over powered by circumstances, but there none the less... waiting for just the right time to explode in glorious color. Isn't life amazing?!

It's time for another Ruby Tuesday!!!

(end of post)


No comments: