Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Residency #1: June 22, making friends with Beeches

So on the way up the trail, you come to a Beech barrier. It's a huge limb that feel from the tree with the initials carved into it's bark. If I were a giant, I'd just step over it. But since loosing an inch of my height, I now measure 5'3", and had to take off my easel, sit it on the otherside of the limb, then with backpack still on, one leg over, and while I'm there, why not just sit for a few minutes?!

I did. What fun. The bark was still in great shape. I rubbed my hands on it, looked down the length of the main limb with tree major branches. I felt like a Hobbit, riding on an Ent! But the bark's texture reminded me of the feel of elephant skin (Martin, Ray and I on an elephant in India - 2011), which I thought felt like roofing shingles.

I enjoyed sitting on this huge limb letting my mind wander playfully, and thinking about trees. What magnificence they have. How they stand, what they've witnessed, and how I was a kid again for a while. Not alone, but in company with nature.

The limb is starting to decay and serving as host for many years to insects and a host of organisms such as this rust colored hairy moss.

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