It was a nice day for a walk. On an unfamiliar street, a breeze picked up. I heard an odd rattling sound over my head. It came from the tree on the edge of the sidewalk. Clusters of dried seed pods clung to leafless branches, reflecting the sunshine, rippled as old washboards. If a thesaurus held recordings instead of just printed words, the seeds rattling within those pods would be the sound to illustrate the section for "desiccated." Soon the pods will lose their grip and be replaced by new leaves. The cycle will start over.