259/365: "How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days." ~John Burroughs

1 more picture + 2 text notes in notes above! :)

Fall is arriving!! Day by day, I am beginning to see the trees slowly change color as the leaves die and drop from their lofty homes. It is an amazing time for me, as are all the 4 distinct seasons we have here in southern Oregon. I was born and raised in San Francisco and it is known for having a similar temperature range year-round. There are no distinct seasons, so one of the things I really wanted was to live in a place where I could experience all four seasons. Fall is incredible to me, and I always think of the quote by Albert Camus, "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." It is so absolutely true. I lose my mind with all of the beautiful leaves, they are incredible!!

And so, today I am sharing another beautiful "autumn flower" from an Oak tree, complete with a Wasp Gall! :)

John Burroughs (April 3, 1837 – March 29, 1921) was an American naturalist and essayist important in the evolution of the U.S. conservation movement. According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress, John Burroughs was the most important practitioner after Henry David Thoreau of that especially American literary genre, the nature essay. By the turn of the 20th century he had become a virtual cultural institution in his own right: the Grand Old Man of Nature at a time when the American romance with the idea of nature, and the American conservation movement, had come fully into their own. His extraordinary popularity and popular visibility were sustained by a prolific stream of essay collections, beginning with Wake-Robin in 1871. Wikipedia: John Burroughs

Explored on September 16, 2013. Highest placement, page 5.