Our Mindful Eye

I had a heck of a time getting a photo this past week.  Nothing I took pleased me, and in fact it down right irritated me!  I even went as far as looking at photos that appeal to me to see what I just wasn't getting right.  I wish I could say that it helped but it didn't, so I just kind of gave up, maybe even pouted a little.  So I gave myself a day to stay away.  I often find that this helps change my perspective about what I am working on.  Sometimes it only takes a matter of days or weeks, other times it has literally taken years.  But whatever works........ Anyways, I still was not happy with my photos except this one. At first I thought it had the most potential of them all, so I tinkered with it and as I did, it started to grow on me, and my photo was found. 

This past week I have been unearthing my autumn treasures!  I have a box full of leaves I have collected over the years, mostly oak leaves.  Scrub oak grows in these parts of the woods, which if you have ever seen you know that it really is not pretty.  So I have had to buy real oak leaves in the past.  When I was in Oregon to meet up with my photography tribe, I was in awe.  There was the most beautiful crisp crimson, orange, and yellow oak leaves everywhere I walked. I couldn't believe it, I was in autumn heaven!  I started gathering as many as I could.  In fact I brought a suitcase full of them home.  I take them out each fall and spread them around my house.  I have also collected acorns from local trees.  This was the pile I was spreading around. 

Here is a silly fact.  The first house we ever bought had a crummy elm tree in the front yard.  We have elm trees all over this town, and they are uhhhgggg....So I often gathered leaves from neighbors (with their permission) who had beautiful golden or colorful trees, and spread them around our front porch and then into the yard. I'm weird like that......

I already read Tracie's post, it seems she has a secret neighbor who planted sunflowers in what was once a neighborhood weed patch, so be sure and check it out! I have often joked that when I go hiking I am going to spread cosmo seeds.  I mean you find isolated flowers that pop up because of the birds, or the wind, so why not?  Well as it turns out, it may be very illegal. 😲  Just my luck if I did it, the cosmos would take over, killing out all the native plants causing some sort of environmental disaster.