Early Spring in Ohio 6
June 4, 2015
I’m sure I’ve seen the fruits of the red-maple tree hundreds of times, but always from a distance. In fact, I think the red tree in yesterday’s photograph is probably a red maple. But I don’t remember ever seeing the fruits up close, and certainly not with the sun blasting through them. If I hadn’t taken this photograph myself (at Schoepfle Garden May 3), I wonder if I would have believed that the saturation had not been bumped up. Soon these pendants will dry, lose their red color, detach themselves from the tree, and twirl in the wind toward the ground, where they will be picked up by children yelling “helicopter!” and thrown back into the air. Some of them eventually will be buried in the ground, where their embedded seeds will sprout new red-maple trees.
Romancing Reality 
My neighbor has a red maple but I didn’t imagine it looked this good. Excellent shot.
LikeLike
June 4, 2015 at 6:59 AM
Thanks, Ken. It was certainly a surprise to me.
LikeLike
June 4, 2015 at 7:06 AM
Luminous!
LikeLike
June 4, 2015 at 8:29 AM
I love getting out early enough to see the sun do this to plants. Glad you like it, Patricia.
LikeLike
June 4, 2015 at 5:16 PM
Gorgeous image! It’s nice that you mention the children… I remember that we used to pick these up, break them in half, and then split the thick end. The inside is a bit sticky, enough to be able to glue it on your nose (Pinocchio style). So we didn’t associate them so much with helicopters, but with noses, as we put “maple noses” on! We didn’t have the red ones, though, that would have been more colourful!
LikeLike
June 6, 2015 at 11:02 AM
Thank you, Gunilla. Thank you for the story about Pinocchio noses, too. They sound like fun.
LikeLike
June 6, 2015 at 1:13 PM
Beautiful photo and lovely thoughts, Linda – I’m so glad I follow your blog.
LikeLike
June 6, 2015 at 3:44 PM
Oh, Lynn! Thank you!
LikeLike
June 6, 2015 at 5:13 PM