The Wonders of Nature!

There is a chill n the air, but the days are still dry and beautiful.  I have seen some unusual Autumn sights this year. I wonder what they portend?  At least they are giving me a wonderful selection of materials to dye with.
The wild cherry trees in my yard usually drop yellow leaves that turn brown quickly and only in small amounts.  This year the treas have had brilliant yellow, orange and red leaves and have dropped most of their leaves over a three day period.  This afforded me a great opportunity to gather some of each color to dye a silk scarf.  I had gone to the river to renew my supply of river water heavy in tannic acid.  While at the river, I found about 30 beer bottle caps in different states of rusting.  I picked them up, brought them home and rinsed them.  I put them in a cup of water with some vinegar to encourage more rusting overnight.  The next morning  I gathered a great selection of Wild Cherry leaves and along with the bottle caps, I wrapped them in a silk habotai scarf around a Jacaranda stick, bound them with rubber bands and put them in the rice cooker with 3 cups of water to steam for an hour.  When they were steamed, I took them out and put the bundle in a ziplock bag and set it aside for 4 days.  When I opened the bundle, hung it to dry and then photographed it.  See photo on left.  I called the scarf Cherry Liquer.