October 30 2012-- sweet gum leaves (from hurricane Sandy)

This is so beautiful, and it took no time. On my walk this morning (in freezing rain), I picked up a pretty sweet gum leaf, because it was speckled. Then I saw another, and another, until I had a handfull of them--all brought down last night by Hurricane Sandy. The range of colors is amazing (deep red to bright yellow) and all the leaves have long stems which made them easy, easy to gather into a bouquet.