Whenever things start to feel to complicated in my life, I find solace in the simple juxtapositions of leaf and stone that I find on my daily outings as a dirt road pilgrim. There is a lot we can learn by just looking to the earth upon which we walk.
In a hurry this afternoon (with a Mellow Mushroom pizza awaiting me at home), I jumped out of the car at the intersection of Piney Woods Church Road and Rico Road, walked over to an American Burnweed growing close by, and immediately found this katydid. I love how the katydid’s legs make nearly perfect equilateral triangles.
Walking down Piney Woods Church Road this evening, I chanced upon a fellow pilgrim in the middle of the road, headed, like me, toward Hutcheson Ferry Road. He (or she) was an Orangestriped Oakworm (Anisota senatoria) with a long way to go. I took a few photographs, then an approaching car prompted me to scoop up the pilgrim and relocate him (or her) to the side of the road. Safe journeys, traveler.
On my evening walk down Piney Woods Church Road today, I passed an Arrowhead Spider (Verrucosa arenata) in the center of her web, apparently doing yoga (or else a highly unsuccessful attempt at peek-a-boo).
The days race by, and now it is autumn. I snatch a few minutes away from a long slough of desk work to amble down Piney Woods Church Road. I take a few shots of some brilliant red sassafras leaves, and a mother cow licking her calf. Early on my journey, I encounter another planthopper on a roadside weed — this time, the Citrus Flatid Planthopper, Metcalfa pruinosa. In my imagination, he (or she) glances furtively and suspiciously at the photographer as he takes this picture.
On this first day of Autumn, abundant green leaves are visible against a blue sky of mid-afternoon. In the background, widely scattered blurs of yellow hint at fall’s arrival.
Today, for the first time this year, I nearly missed the Sun. An early morning requirement of jury duty in downtown Atlanta necessitated leaving well before sunrise, and returning within a few scant minutes of sunset. I hurried off to Piney Woods Church Road in my car — my only option for catching the remaining sunlight — only to discover that I had left my memory card at home, and had to go back once again.
I took this photograph within perhaps five minutes of sunset. I love how this dried roadside weed takes on a golden hue in the last rays of sunlight.
One hundred and one days to go on my Piney Woods Church Road journey, and how far I have come! Today I dashed off for a quick morning photo op before driving to Zebulon for the second day of a two-weekend PopUp photography exhibit, “Dirt Road Pilgrimage”. II will discuss that exhibit more in a later post. For now, here is an image of a fork in the road.
With only two days left until the the official end of summer, autumn’s approach is palpable along Piney Woods Church Road. From today’s walk, here are two visions of autumn: Changing Colors, and Leaf Touching Leaf.
When I think of autumn colors, I usually think of maple and sassafras, not muscadine. But I am finding the muted greens, yellows, golds, and orange-browns of muscadine leaves, scattered on Piney Woods Church Road this time of year, to be enchanting, too.
