We have a new puppy.  The other day, I took her to a nearby park for a romp. All around us was color. Glowing leaves floated, drifted, and twirled down to earth, and reminded me that fall is a verb. As is spring. Winter and summer can be verbs, too — maybe fall and spring are what plants do, and winter and summer are what animals do.

I also wondered why snow globes are a thing, but as far as I know, no one makes leaf globes. Why not?


A few years back when I made a picture book called Snow Music, I looked up how to make your own snow globe. Why not do the same thing with orange and yellow glitter, for a leaf globe? I’m going to do it.  I already have the glitter.  When I finish it, I’ll put a picture of it here. Maybe a video. In the meantime, here’s how to do it yourself:

1. Wash and dry a jar and its lid thoroughly. 2. Make sure figures are not water-soluble and will fit inside, then glue them to the lid with waterproof glue or cement. Let dry. 3. Fill jar nearly to top with distilled water.  Add a few drops of glycerin (from the drugstore) and a few pinches of yellow and orange glitter. 4. Smear a little adhesive inside the lid and screw it on tightly. 5. Let the lid-glue dry, then flip it!

One note about the picture above: the fictional element is the size of the pup. Our new pup, Hazel, is not that big yet. It’s just how the drawing came out.

UPDATE!!!! AS PROMISED!!!! For Christmas, our son Frank made me TWO leaf globes, a summer one and a fall one.  Here is a pic of the two globes:


Here is a sort of blurry (okay, VERY blurry) picture of two figures walking in the bottom of the autumn one:


And here is a 3 or 4 second movie of the autumn one being shaken up and the leaves falling: