[ A view from the ground, looking up through tall Ponderosa pines. The sun barely peeps through a cluster of branches, and many of the needles are brightly lit. ]
I spent some time just laying on the ground, looking up through the trees, & it was … it was just gorgeous. They shimmered as the sun shone on the needles & the wind moved everything around; I tried to catch it on video, but it just didn’t come out right. It was very soothing to lay on the ground & just BE.
Course then Loiosh came over & stuck his butt in my face, because that’s how THAT goes.
Remember that fallen tree they spent a bunch of time climbing around on? Look how it fell — with the remains of the stump cradling the trunk.
[ What’s left of the stump is mostly broken off low to the ground, but two taller pieces stick up, one on each side of the stump — and the bottom of the trunk lays between them, the end sticking out perhaps a foot last the edge of the stump. ]
Flowers!
[ A pair of tiny, bright yellow flowers stick out of the otherwise-grey leaf litter. ]
Pinecone!
[ A classically round pinecone sits in the grass, the sun shining bright on the opened scales. ]
Here’s a nice cross-section of Ponderosa bark, which, yes, I am still fascinated by.
[ The cross-section of bark is cut clean and perhaps two inches high at the thickest. The bark is divided into thin layers, and each layer is further split into sections anywhere from a couple millimeters to an inch wide. ]
Bones of long-dead creatures; for Adhemar, as always.
[ A long-dead and heavily weathered tree trunk, which once grew in a long narrow spiral and is still curved. ]
& another flower! There’s plenty out here that’s bright & beautiful, you just gotta look.
[ A small white flower with a yellow center — almost certainly some sort of daisy — grows low to the ground, surrounded by pale green petals. ]
It really was a lovely day.
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