Sunday, November 11th, 8:45 A.M.

a fallen leaf on Webster Street

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2007 jim otterstrom

Ten days ago I found myself walking down Webster Street in Alameda, California, where this leaf happened to be lying on the sidewalk near an iron planter-grate.

I noticed how the morning light glorified the rather ordinary scene, so I laid down on the concrete trying to capture the moment.

It occurred to me that there was a police cruiser in the neighborhood, and that I very much resembled the homeless guys waiting for the liquor store on the corner to open, and that it might not be in my best interest to be horizontal on the sidewalk at that particular moment, but I took the picture anyway and continued on my walk without incident or interrogation.

I had just been talking with those homeless fellows, both disabled Viet Nam Veterans, and contributed a couple of bucks to their delinquency, hoping they might buy some food with it. But more likely it went for a bottle, which, if it brings some temporary comfort to their shattered lives, is OK with me. Who am I to judge? I suppose most people are somewhat fearful of desperate characters like that, but I'm more wary of those who command the police cruisers.

For me, the photograph can be a metaphor for fallen lives and bygone times. A complex leaf, once integral to a thriving community of leaves feeding a tree, is now just so much colorful refuse deposited along a hardened urban streetscape, compost for tomorrow's world.

By the way, I still haven't had time to finish the posts on my recent train trip or the acorn processing class, but they're in the works.
Anyhow, I thought I'd share a quick photo this morning to keep the blog from sitting empty.