Cue the banjo music from "Deliverance" coz it's time for duelling blog posts.
Yes boys and girls, Amy-Lynn and I visited the same tree in the woods and are each writing a post about it.
This is mine.
And this is the tree.
Well really it's two trees but they were very close to each other and had probably grown up together, and if we chose just one of them the other might get jealous.
Green branches could be found only at the top of the tree, where they stuck up above the smaller trees around them, reaching for sunlight.
The trunks and branches were white with Old Man's Beard and various lichens.
My trusty hand lens gave me a closer look.
This is why the tree appears white. A world of tiny plants came into clear view through my little lens.
This tree no longer seemed like a simple tree. Instead it was a multi-layered collection of lifeforms living together in harmony -- the canopy, the trunk, the draped branches, and the moss covered roots A little city in the woods.
Amy-Lynn's tree post can be found here.
How beautiful! I must get a hand lens myself, although I think if I rummaged thru' Don's box of camera parts, I would find one. You are so lucky to have a forest near you. Then again, the trees in the park behind us would be a perfect beginning.
ReplyDeleteITC-1
That 'trusty hand lens' of yours is such a window on the wonders of the world.
ReplyDeleteThanks Carol and Amy-Lynn,
ReplyDeleteit was my dad's old slide viewer lens. For twenty years at least it sat unused and then suddenly it found a new use.
It opens up amazing tiny worlds.
I also like the way it rounds off the corners of the image you're taking so that it looks like you're photographing the surface of a tiny planet.
ReplyDeleteNice lichen. Nice trees. I like! Just been over to Amy-Lynn's and enjoyed her part of the walk too. I think you two better head on over here for some exploration of my old English woods. I can do some pretty old oak trees for you. Come on, get over here!!!
ReplyDelete"A little city in the woods." I like that! And these hand-lens images are extremely captivating, opening up entire unexplored realms...wonderful!
ReplyDeletejulian, the hand lens is such a simple thing and it has made such a difference to the way i look at things. I could never afford a decent camera so my hand lens is a cheap route to a macro view of things.
ReplyDeleteLynne - oh how i wish we could nip on over to merry old England.
That's it! I'm going to put a magnifying lens in my back-pack. I'll just have to resist that childhood urge to see if I can ignite a dried blade of glass. :) I, too love your 'city in the woods' simile and images.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cindy. If I find I've left the house without my lens my walk is just not the same. I love looking at the micro worlds it opens up.
ReplyDeleteMy goal is to get an old fashioned spyglass next.