A Walk in the Woods: Green Amid Brown

The brilliant colors of fall are gone and the fallen leaves spread over the ground have faded to subtle variations of brown: reddish and yellowish and in some places gray. I love the word "dun", for its description of a dull grayish brown, although even its present diminished state, there is enough variation in leaf litter to catch the eye. But this subtlety is overwhelmed by the intensely vivid greens scattered throughout the woods. This moss covered rock, shining out brightly from its surroundings almost as though it was lit from within, stopped me in my tracks during my walk yesterday.




Then I began noticing other greens displayed against the browns: life, and its expiring. This fern's fronds point to the four directions, a neat geometry atop the random pattern of leaves.



Although its leaves are beginning to brown at their tips, the plaintain-leaved sedge is still vibrant, arcing its corrugated green above the littered ground. Soon all will be covered with snow, but for now it is heartening to see these still-green plants gracing the dun woods.