tree curiosity

 My brother came in the other day to say he'd seen a garden snake laying in a sunny patch of dirt, put down after the fellow finally came to remove the ground-up wood chips. I have never seen a snake on our property, but of course they are there, so I said let's go back out - I want to see it. We went right out again - but he was gone.

Meanwhile, there we were, across the brook where I'd been examining the leaves of the trees out there, because I haven't paid attention and don't even know what they are. I know the tall swamp maple, because it's the brilliant one every October. And I did know the sassafras, with three different types of leaves on one tree -

one, a sort of mitten shape, one, with three lobes (is that the right word?) and another just oval-ish. I'd also noticed a maple with very large leaves, and this tree is still green! I guess it does this (or rather, doesn't do it) every fall, but as I said, I never noticed. So I picked a leaf and looked in my guide. It's most probably a Norway maple. Seems to be considered a pest by many, and it doesn't get pretty in the fall. 

This leaf is about nine inches across. And I also saw another shaped leaf, but I had to take one from the ground, since the branches are too high up. It's an elm! I think, a slippery elm, which is nice to have around; I used to love those slippery elm lozenges by Thayer. They don't make them anymore.

However, I'm glad to know what an elm leaf looks like. Meanwhile, my brother saw a snake again today, but I wasn't there, again. I'm sure I'd be startled to see a long snake in the grass, but I'm not afraid of them.