Carpet of Leaves

Parts of the path down by the river are covered with little oak leaves of varying shades of brown.

The sound of footsteps is muted; the colors are as rich a feast for the eye as a fine tapestry. They smell organic, earthy, rich.

Imagine having a two inch deep carpet of them throughout the house, soft to walk on, low maintenance ... in the spring, you could just sweep them out the door and put them on the compost heap.

Indeed, I was in a florist's shop in Modesto in which they did something like that with eucalyptus leaves. The floor was adrift with fragrant natural potpourri, the perfume stirred up each time a customer walked through the store. Lovely! And as eucalypts drop leaves year round, they had an unending supply to enhance their wood floor.

Alas, I have something that the florist's shop did not: a dog capable of shedding a bushel basket of undercoat hair every four days. Leaves and dog hair do not make a pretty picture, though mixed with mud might make some fairly sturdy bricks.