In memory of trees

This was the year of the tree for me.

When I think about 2012 I think about Yesterday Today and Tomorrow and how often I watched the branches of the trees that held those owls. 

I think about the old crabapple tree in Long Island where the songbirds lived. Those branches held the lives of woodpeckers, blue jays, cardinals, chickadees, tufted titmouse, goldfinches, wrens and sparrows.

 I think about the tree limbs overhanging the pond during the changing of the leaves and the beautiful reflections that developed.

I think about the old mossy leaning trees, living with one foot in and one foot out along the Ausable river in the Adirondack Mountains.

I think of Grandma's woods, the ivy covered floor and the screeching of the herons nesting in the limbs, flying from one to the next. 

And I hear the wind blowing through the palm fronds and see the air plants reaching out of their trunks.

With all of these memories I'm also reminded how grateful I am for what is in the now, because everyone of those memories must remain only that. Those trees are either gone altogether or have changed in some profound way. Mother Nature has had her way....

But this image is telling me a story. What is and what can be. Take special notice of the details and remember that what is off in the distance and out of focus may hold the most promise.

I am ready for 2013