Blown in on the Wind

We had quite a severe windstorm last week which blew a blanket of oak leaf clusters (not the kind that adorn the epaulettes of military personnel, but the kind that adorn an oak tree) small branches and twigs everywhere. At the height of it we cold hear chairs overturning, the very heavy lids of the compost bins blowing down into the swale and, as it turns out, our little bench made from an Indian oxcart yoke self destructing on the front lawn.

It finally stopped raining this morning and we went out to address the mess. Ours is not an easy garden for collecting the massive amount of leaves. It involves sweeping, raking and plucking bunches of leaves out of bushes and thorny plants whilst negotiating one's way across steep slopes and up and down stairs.

I am a bit of a collector of natural found objects, so, although I didn't really enjoy the sweeping and raking of the driveway, I  did  add to my collection of acorns, small bones, a snakeskin, lichen, leaves, a butterfly wing , small shells, seed pods and stones. We had a volunteer tomatillo plant that came up next to our driveway, miles from where we had planted some in the veggie boxes. It looked pretty and we left it there. 

Today, I found this husk stuck in a cluster of oak leaves which in turn was stuck in an agave. I managed to extract it without impaling myself and had some fun trying to get an interesting photograph of it.

Delicate dry husk
Full of holes, dainty as lace
Survives the tempest
While the sturdy oxcart bench
Falls to the ground in pieces....