I have always wanted to start my very own leaf journal, and now that I have a platform to do it I'm going to express myself though plants every week. I'm feeling like a little kid right now! I will be updating my journal, documenting places I have been through the leaves I collect. I find it specially interesting how much character they bring to a place. In many ways, plants are as sassy as I am. ------------------------------------------------ |
Today I went for a run around my neighborhood early in the morning. It's a good thing that last night the sky let it all out because I was greeted by the wet scent seeded deep into the earth. That after-rain smell that makes it feel like spring at least for a fourth of a second. The first leaf I found on the driveway. I picked it about as I got closer into the ivy that grasps the fence like it never wants to let go. I was just corroborating, by looking at the big droplets of water resting peacefully upon leaves, that it had rained last night. This leaf caught my attention because the droplets that it housed perfectly received the sunlight, like a diamond would if it ever grew from the tops of leaves.
My neighborhood at home is secluded but it's not an outcast. There is not one identifying feature to it, besides the palm trees along the Main Street and the sameness in Spanish architecture that is so relevant for all houses in Miami. Just around the corner there is a small nature preserve that, if we ever forget what nature looked like, it catches on fire during he summer months much like what it would have done if it still were pine scrubs. Some minutes of running and panting later and you can easily find yourself looking at the overcast sky over a small airport's runway, then feeling the breeze that is made by the cars that swift down an empty avenue. Miami is not a walking city, so I must find my way through the missing sidewalk. I took a right and headed toward the closest park. It circles a man-made lake and snakes in an out of the cover of trees. The second leaf fell on me. It found its way through the slight breeze from the balcony it was on to my shoulder. It just gently poked me before falling on the floor. I picked it up, looked at its rich colors. It looked like ink stains. As if the stems were injecting it with green, keeping it alive.
I finished my run and snapped off the last leaf from a walkway pergola bush without stopping.
Lot of small plants grow around where I live: grasses, ivies and bushes. They go well in contrast to the overarching Miami palm trees. I guess that is the typical grooming in landscaping for the middle-class . Plants big enough for attention but small enough so they are easy.
My neighborhood at home is secluded but it's not an outcast. There is not one identifying feature to it, besides the palm trees along the Main Street and the sameness in Spanish architecture that is so relevant for all houses in Miami. Just around the corner there is a small nature preserve that, if we ever forget what nature looked like, it catches on fire during he summer months much like what it would have done if it still were pine scrubs. Some minutes of running and panting later and you can easily find yourself looking at the overcast sky over a small airport's runway, then feeling the breeze that is made by the cars that swift down an empty avenue. Miami is not a walking city, so I must find my way through the missing sidewalk. I took a right and headed toward the closest park. It circles a man-made lake and snakes in an out of the cover of trees. The second leaf fell on me. It found its way through the slight breeze from the balcony it was on to my shoulder. It just gently poked me before falling on the floor. I picked it up, looked at its rich colors. It looked like ink stains. As if the stems were injecting it with green, keeping it alive.
I finished my run and snapped off the last leaf from a walkway pergola bush without stopping.
Lot of small plants grow around where I live: grasses, ivies and bushes. They go well in contrast to the overarching Miami palm trees. I guess that is the typical grooming in landscaping for the middle-class . Plants big enough for attention but small enough so they are easy.