Text & Image

How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.

<strong> For the past couple of years I have collected autumn leaves that have freshly fallen.</strong> I usually tuck them in the pages of a book and they become pleasant little surprises when I open a leafed book. This year I was going to do that and photograph them using a great ultra macro lens I bought for my Nikon camera. <strong> I picked up vibrant or interesting leaves, set them on my dining room table that has become my mini photo studio, and...nothing. Within a few hours the leaves dry and shrivel. </strong> Plus, that great lens is less great because I have cataracts and I can't see well enough to closely focus on whatever I put in front of that lens. But, I can use a different lens and take pictures of leaves that are still attached to a tree. <strong> This one was taken in October when I went on a photo trip to the Leelenau Peninsula. </strong> <strong> The leaves are importantly predictable. They mark the beginnings of withering daylight and hard cold that eventually slips gently into longer days and green. </strong> I hate the cold and the dark. I sang 4 concerts this past weekend, fully masked. There were 80 of us onstage, shoulder to shoulder. We were all masked and vaccinated, but <strong> Omicron now stands in the wings. Who knows when it will enter and how it will change us. </strong> The leaves loosened by fading sunlight and cold temperatures are predictable and at least dazzle us with color. <strong> Covid isn't predictable and it doesn't dazzle. </strong>