Sassafras Revealed

As we drove down the road that we have driven down so very many times before, the Oak leaves were browning, the Pine needles were thinning, the Maples were turning yellow and orange, the Sumac were bright red, and the Sassafras were glowing golden in the undergrowth.

One particular Sassafras tree stood out. Normally hidden in the green profusion of that woods in summer, its golden leaves now betrayed its hiding place. It was a large tree—larger than a Sassafras has any business being. And it was bent over from years of competition with the surrounding Oaks and Maples and Pines. But all around it, those other trees were dropping their leaves, so the once-concealed Sassafras was prominently visible in its golden autumn glow.

Two days later, winter arrived. The wind blew cold out of the southwest. White caps picked up in the water. Sleet and wet snow fell. When I saw that tree again, the ground was covered white. The Sassafras still held its leaves, but now all was coated in snow.

We don't see much of that kind of thing down where I came from. So I took my camera and snapped a shot, but my hands were tired and my fingers cold, and the image came out blurry. I'll just have to remember that Sassafras tree on my own.

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Half Mile Lake
Gowen, Michigan

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