Rabbit Tracks

Rabbit Tracks
On Sentinel Way

Blog 5- The Blade of Grass


Going outside to look at nature was a welcome change from going outside just to rush off to class. It was nice to observe the little color that we have on campus instead of just hurrying past it, not even noticing. Choosing only one item was surprisingly difficult. I thought about a leaf, I thought about a twig, I thought about some soil, but these items seemed too cliché. I wanted to pick an item that was not immediately thought of. So I chose some grass. But then the patch of grass I chose, did not feel quite right, so instead, I chose a single blade from the much larger area. The piece of grass I picked is larger than a typical piece of grass, not much longer, but a lot wider. The blade of grass looks like it has been folded in half before, and has a small tear on it’s left side that kind of looks like an insect ate away at it. The bright green color is what first caught my eye, because there is so much brown and beige outside right now, and since spring is coming, there are hints of green everywhere. Running my fingers up and down the length of the blade, I realized that one way is smooth and one way is rough, as if petting a dog the wrong way. The fact that one blade of grass alone does not look like much, but when you have hundreds upon hundreds of blades together make it almost impossible to decipher one individual blade, forming something like a carpet. Smelling it was surprising, it did not smell like I would immediately expect a blade of grass to smell like, it nearly smelled like it was fake and was reminiscent of plastic. A scientist could most likely tell me what kind of grass this is. I am allergic to two-thirds of the grasses, so I bet they could tell me if it was one I am allergic to. The scientist could possibly tell me how old the blade of grass is, or maybe what feeds on this type of grass. A scientist would definitely be able to tell me the genus and species of this piece of grass. An artist would tell me the exact shade of green that the blade is, and might talk about the movement the plant has. They would tell me the best way to photograph it so the lighting was just right, and how