A walk in the fall in an Ontario mixed-hardwood forest is an experience in the beauty of age, imperfection, and decay. An irony is that while 'age' and 'decay' are usually thought of as unattractive, there's a beauty in some human-made and natural objects. The tree bark which serves as the background for this image has been dead and aging for many years. Of course, it's full of micro-organisms and beneath the bark one finds a number of small critters, grubs of various insects that spend their immature life beneath the bark and emerge in the springtime. The leaves and pine needles are here for this season only.