Identifying and Clarifying

From the Margarete Petersen, the Eight of Coins; from the Elemental Dice, Air + Water (Cloud):

          When my daughter was in high school, she had to do a leaf project for science that involved gathering and identifying sixty plus leaves from different trees. Now if you have the whole tree to observe, it is much easier to name. But we had some well-meaning friends who would bring her leaves from trees whose identity was a complete unknown. So we became leaf detectives. I learned there was much more information in a leaf than simply shape and color. Some leaves are compound, meaning they have leaflets either attached at one point or at several points. Veins can branch out from the main, middle vein or from one central location. Leaf edges can be smooth, serrated or lobed; the backs can be hairless or fuzzy. Lots of information was learned by focus and close attention to detail (which would explain Petersen's buddha image in her leaf). But sometimes, as the Cloud combo of dice implies, you can have information overload - as in the saying "you can't see the forest for the trees." Instead of a clearer picture, things seem even more confused. Then it can help to find an objective person who can see from a broader perspective. Which is why we would occasionally wind up at plant nurseries bearing leaves!