joy - Jon's Journal

Autumn Ramble

Saturday was warm. We walked along a rail rail for miles. A day with the colors and smells of Autumn is grounds for many Moments of Joy… this is just one.

Right near my house is a little oak sapling, barely six feet tall. And growing on this little tree was the largest oak leaf I ever recall seeing. It was ready to come off, so I plucked it and took a selfie with it. I realize I don’t look happy in the selfie, but that […]

Magenta vs Green

Two points of view on autumn. The magenta leaves, which I learned are winged euonymus, an asian shrub that is now common here. The green are wild grape vines. The euonymus states that “It is fall, time to put on the party clothes and celebrate. “ But the grape vine pokes through and counters with […]

Benign Blue and Red

After last night’s nightmare presidential debate more Joy is needed. Here is one of my all-time favorite treats that nature provides: deep blue berries of Virginia creeper, but with extraordinary bright red stems, which I suspect were tossed in purely for aesthetic reasons by the creeper committee. Of course, there is some irony in this […]

Grape Leaf in Autumn

All sorts of color changes take place in the fall, not all are bright colors. Here a common wild grape leaf is pretending to be an exotic rainforest species… and I thanked it for bringing me a Moment of Joy… and wonder.

Pokeweed Insanity

This plant does not look like it belongs in staid New England. It seems tropical in its absurd colors. It gives me many Moments of Joy and has done so since childhood. This is pokeweed and it is a one-of-a-kind plant. It grows each year from ground level into 5 or 8 foot tall plants, […]

A Yellow Feather

Feathers are one of Mother Nature’s truly great ideas. I love them all: big, small, colorful, or drab. Light, strong, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Recently a yellow bird left me a single feather on my deck, as a gift. It is hard to photograph a feather and give it proper […]

Stairway Sunlight

https://vimeo.com/447943031 Willie Nelson once wrote and sang “Been days when it pleased meTo be on my kneesFollowing ants,as they crawled across the ground”in the song I’d Have To Be Crazy. In such a spirit, I have sat on my stairwell and watched the light dance on the wall, after working its way through the trees […]