in the pink

A world inside another world. This droplet just hung there on a september morning reflecting my garden back to me.

bottoms up

Dig deep, there are lots of goodies down there..

breath in

Wouldn't you love to throw your face inside this peony and take a long deep breath.

fallen times

Another tree fell in our backyard, it went quietly, just split in half and shared its trunk in two directions. One half is in the woods and the other on our lawn, just trying to share its wealth with the wildlife that has been finding refuge in these branches. The birds I feed have lost their old crabapple branches since that tree has been dragged away and cut into wood chips. Now they have a new place to investigate with this latest tree on the ground. I hope these fallen times end soon, my heart can't take it. 

a dog's life

What?! Where are you going, I just got here! Why are you leaving, can I come? Geeze these birds are no fun. What the heck, where's my ball, wait a minute, where are my people... My paws are getting a little wet and I think I'll go home and have a cookie.

turn inward

We have so much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

end of a day

Sunset, high tide, intense colors, simply awesome.

I feel like I went on vacation.

sunset

Another chasing the light situation. This was the sunset the night we had all of the snow just after Sandy. It was all orange and pink and the line up of trees was a testament to the power left in those standing trees.

dawn of a new day

This Long Island view reminds me of that early morning image I took in the Smokie mountains. There is something about the stark trees against the emerging  colors that draws me in. I love standing in the dark, waiting for the revealing light of day. 

more than the eye can see

I love this path. There is so much happening here, the border of dried grasses, the mossy tree limbs, the leaning trees heavy with fall color, and especially the footpath cushioned with crunchy and saturated leaves. The path invites me to follow and when I do it gently bends to the right and opens onto another Scottish vista filled with a stream, woods and an old bench to sit upon.

A single contemplation

And then we got 5 inches of snow! 

Above and Below

I have always been very connected to trees. I feel in some way that they have old souls. They stand so tall that we often forget to look all the way up to the top. Actually it bothers my neck and I'm afraid I'll fall over backwards, so lying down on my back helps. I love to spend time there, especially with a grandchild tucked under my wing, looking for birds and blue bits of sky through the canopy of leaves. The top of trees is a far away place where we seldom go, so its nice to carve out a bit of "lying in the grass" time.

But when I saw those trees piled on top of each other, something piled up in me too. All those old souls had given up. They were beaten down, confused and crumpled every which way. They had lost their way. Their roots were torn from the earth and exposed to the light of day. An upturned wall of hidden resources that had nourished a tree for so many long years. A view I wish I did not have to witness. Those roots were meant to be hidden, growing under my feet, not left vulnerable to the world.

The trunks of the trees were so enormous I couldn't climb over them. When I tried I was reminded of the immense weight of them. The immovable mass of tree, the core of it all.

It's one thing to see two or three fallen trees in the woods, I see them in the Adirondack Mountains on my hikes. But this is different, so other worldly, so violent, so sad. 

Around forty trees in a two acre area are down.

And they all fell around a woman who lived in her house, who is about the same age as those trees. They all weathered the storm together. She survived, the trees did not. Their shared vista has changed forever. The trees will eventually be sawed and chopped and shredded and burned and eventually forgotten. But the old woman in the house will not forget them. They were part of her world, they held her memories, sheltered her family, protected and nourished the birds she fed. They watched over the little house on the hill.

I never knew how much I loved those trees until I lost them. 

taken a turn

There has been a sharp turn on the trail, very little is familiar, the landscape has changed. My backpack doesn't have everything I need so I will have to improvise. The trees are speaking out and I can barely listen. But we are thankful for this bit of tree that is keeping us warm in a world that got cold really fast.