Figure 1 – Tree roots (Thanotopsis), Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, October 24, 2020. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

Peak foliage is finished here in Massachusetts, and as we build up to Election Day, we have moved into the dreary days of November. So I think it worth a few more fall foliage images.

Figure 1, from this past Saturday, was taken at the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge and shows some tree roots piercing the ground and covered in autumn leaves. There is something intrinsically magical and mythical about tree roots above the surface. Are these Tolkein’s Ents? Are we seeing a connection with an unknown world? Is it perhaps the underworld of the dead? And certainly there is something profound about trees gaining nourishment from the decay of last summer’s leaves – a continuous circle of decay and renewal.