Now is the time to observe the leaves, so fair in color and so perfect in form. I stand over a sprig of choke-cherry, with fair and perfect glossy green obovate and serrate leaves, in the woods this p.m., as if it were a rare flower. Now various forms of oak leaves in sprout-lands, wet-glossy, as if newly painted green and varnished, attract me. In the washing breeze the lighter under sides begin to show, and a new light is flashed upon the year, lighting up and enlivening the landscape.
The surface of the still water nowadays looking like dust at a little distance. Is it the down of the leaves blown off? I distinguish the different surfaces, — here broken into waves and sparkling with light, there, where covered with this linty dust or film, merely undulating without breaking, and there quite smooth and stagnant. I see in one place a sharp and distinct line, as if there were a cobweb on the water, between the clear and ruffled water and the stagnant filmy part, as if it were a slightly raised seam.
These warm and dry days, which put spring far behind, the sound of the cricket at noon has a new value and significance, so serene and cool. It is the iced-cream of song. It is modulated shade.
I now notice froth on the pitch and white pines.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 4, 1854
Now is the time to observe the leaves, so fair in color and so perfect in form. . . . See June 4, 1855 (“and now the crimson velvety leafets of the black oak, showing also a crimson edge on the downy under sides, are beautiful as a flower”); May 17, 1852 ("These young leaves have the beauty of flowers. “)
The surface of the still water nowadays looking like dust at a little distance. Is it the down of the leaves blown off? See June 6, 1855 (“You see . . . a dust-like tint on river, apparently from the young leaves and bud-scales, covering the waters, which begin to be smooth, and imparting a sense of depth.”. See also note to June 4, 1857 (“It is an agreeable phenomenon to me, as connected with the season and suggesting warm weather. I suppose it to be the down from the new leaves which so rapidly become smooth. . . . where the water slowly circles round in that great eddy, has the appearance of having been dusted over.”)
These warm and dry days, which put spring far behind, the sound of the cricket at noon has a new value and significance, so serene and cool. It is the iced-cream of song. It is modulated shade.
I now notice froth on the pitch and white pines.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 4, 1854
Now is the time to observe the leaves, so fair in color and so perfect in form. . . . See June 4, 1855 (“and now the crimson velvety leafets of the black oak, showing also a crimson edge on the downy under sides, are beautiful as a flower”); May 17, 1852 ("These young leaves have the beauty of flowers. “)
The surface of the still water nowadays looking like dust at a little distance. Is it the down of the leaves blown off? See June 6, 1855 (“You see . . . a dust-like tint on river, apparently from the young leaves and bud-scales, covering the waters, which begin to be smooth, and imparting a sense of depth.”. See also note to June 4, 1857 (“It is an agreeable phenomenon to me, as connected with the season and suggesting warm weather. I suppose it to be the down from the new leaves which so rapidly become smooth. . . . where the water slowly circles round in that great eddy, has the appearance of having been dusted over.”)
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