A warm day in October. The sun is bright in a cloudless sky. A hard freeze has turned the Sumac red but the fen\’s moist soil keeps grasses and shrubs green. Cold weather is coming but not today. Let\’s take a walk to see what\’s blooming this late. This is Ferson Creek Fen, on the Fox River, north of St. Charles, Illinois. An artist\’s dream. The painting is varnished and finished on the sides. It is wired and ready to hang.