Thanks Be To God for the Little Gold Dress of Fall

The ghinko is my favorite icon of autumn, so it should be no surprise that it will be the theme of the postcard ad and bulletin cover for my church's  Thanksgiving service this year.   All this image needs is my friend's calligraphy "Thanks Be To God" placed in the center.    

It is hard to design with the ghinko leaf without becoming "craftsman" in attitude.  It has such clean, crisp and elegant little leaves, completely brilliant when grouped against a dark blue Alabama autumn sky.  Compared with flashier fall leaves, in shape the ghinko becomes the equivalent of the quietly tasteful little black dress; as its color dazzels one to ponder how such brillance can appear and disappear so quickly.   

The ghinko in my side yard and the ghinko in my church's side yard define the arrival of spring and fall for me, the cool lime green splash in spring and the warming gold in fall.  When leaves start to appear on the rug inside the front door, fall is officially in full swing.  Year after year I take the same photos.  Nothing much changes, but I have to capture the glitter one more time.  But I see, in my mind's eye, the different falls under the huge tree.  The year my nephew, Joseph who, while learning to walk, surfed through the gold leaves beneath the tree and learned to kick and laugh...the puppy, Parker, playing under the tree on a  Halloween about nine years ago...the blue bench and chair that sat under the tree for so many years... the tree I visited in fall before it came to belong to me and the relief I felt when Hurricane Opal spared her in 1995 while downing her neighbors.         

Thank God for such cyclical beauty.  What a spectacular gift.   Thanks be to God for all the blessings of this life, including, but not limited to, the ghinko.