Am I reading too much? For the last few weeks we have had beautiful fall leaves in our area. Sadly, they are mostly gone because of the rain, and I suppose it is just time for fall to move on... One of the most amazing trees I observed this fall was a sumac tree, a grove of sumac trees. My teenage son and I saw these trees as I drove him to school, down the mountain, each morning. They were small, but stunning and stood out from the vivid oranges, purples, reds, and stately yellow oaks that normally fascinate me.
These normally not-noticeable sumacs are not very tall standing at about 9 or 10 feet. During the summer I suppose they are skinny with a cluster of green leaves at the top. I honestly did not notice them last summer, ( but I will look this spring when the leaves begin to explode into their beautiful green).
But, back to fall and the magical sumac. This cluster of eye-catching trees stood on their spindly legs with fiery tops. If any tree could be ironic - it was this assemblage of sumacs. At the top of their trunk they opened up with a bright fussilade of brilliant red. But then, like a top hat, a deep cap of verdant green sat atop the bloodshot leaves.
If it had not been for the fact that we we going down a backwoods mountain road with no pullover I would have taken some wonderful photos. I have never seen anything like these trees and did not even know what they where. I had to take my mother-in-law for a field trip to let me know what the tree was!
Now...here is the funny, (reading to much), part. As I pointed the gorgeous trees out to my 15 year old son I went into this long description...story...that we could actually brew the leaves of these outrageous trees and kill someone! They were poisonous.
My husband picked my son up from school several days later. He immediately came to me upon returning home and told me he would never be drinking any tea I made! Maybe he has watched too many Snapped episodes on the Oxygen network? Should I be glad my son, a teenager, listens to me...internalizes what I say, or afraid that he thinks I am some 21st century witch-y woman?
Okay, let's admit it, this past year, there has been a huge slew of witch books. Most of them very good. I loved The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston, Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz, Daughers of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt, (on my to-read list), A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, and all of the wonderful novels by Alice Hoffman including Blackbird House and Practical Magic and the books by Sarah Addison Allen like Garden Spells. Whew, there are so many more. I just can't think of them all or type them all. Feel free to comment with your own favorites.
The photo above is one I grabbed from the internet. Sorry it is not a view of the real grove of sumacs that made my son think I am a witch-y mom! Oh, they were so delightful and will stay with me for some time to come! Just one of those how could something so beautiful be so bad....
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