Arboreality Returns in June

I am returning to Seattle this May, and Arboreality will be on vacation until June 1, 2008 while I pack and travel.

Arboreality extends a gracious thank you to Mike of 10,000 Birds for volunteering to host the Festival of the Trees next month on such short notice. Be sure to send in your submissions this April featuring trees, forests, and wood.

Once I am settled in Seattle I’ll be able to share images from my return trip across the US. We’ll return to the evergreen forests of my home-state with a fresh pair of eyes. Until then, enjoy the blooming spring or the glorious autumn (depending upon your location), and feel free to reminisce through the Pennsylvania hardwoods when we explored the Poconos, and my dear home right here at the farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

See you in June!

Tobyhanna in Autumn Colors

The trees in the Poconos are beginning their grand showing of autumn colors just in time for October. Over the weekend we were so smitten with gold, magenta, and scarlet that I completely forgot to take pictures until the last day of our visit.

Monday morning at Tobyhanna was cool and beautiful. The trees are just turning, and we had a few moments of breezelessness when the water stilled enough to see the clear reflection of autumn colors against the blue morning sky. My photos cannot possibly convey the peace of the morning.

In case you aren’t a forest bunny like me, I encourage you to take an afternoon to visit a local park, or drive a couple hours to a forest, or even just go spend an hour with a tree in your yard. You may be surprised by what you hear, if you just sit back and listen a while.

The Forests of Chateau Mumu

Each of our two vacation resting places had their own unique forest character. If you think there are a lot of pictures in today's post, you can imagine how many I had to leave out!

Chateau Mumu, our first stop, was nestled in among a stand of young deciduous trees, dominated by what I believe to be either Chestnut trees, Chestnut oak trees, or possibly Chinkapin oaks – or perhaps both, or something else entirely! They stood out to me because I had not previously seen trees with these big, wonderful, toothed leaves. Further investigation will be needed for certain identification, especially since I'm still stumped by many oaks. File the tooth-leaved trees under mystery.

Other oaks, Sugar maples (Acer saccharum), Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) and the odd evergreen also grew in the woods. I was particularly surprised by what appeared to be three young Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii), the likes of which I have not seen in almost a year (where once they dominated my landscape in Washington). I can’t imagine what Douglas fir might be doing in the Poconos, and I didn't see any of their cones around, so I’ll leave these up as mystery evergreens, to be identified at a later date.

The forest floor at Chateau Mumu may have been even more exciting than the rest of the woods. Great piles of fallen leaves scattered amid rain-soaked mosses and Pennsylvania stones made for fun investigations by the puppies, and plenty of fodder for my camera.

As always, suggestions for identification of the mystery trees is welcomed and encouraged. Next week I’ll give you a full review of the places we stayed, and of course, many more pictures from our adventures in the surrounding forests and parks!

Autumn Woods

Pictured here are the woods surrounding the first place we stayed while visiting the Poconos.

Each time I sit down to write you a nice, long, picture-filled post about our stay, I get sidetracked with one of my many projects!

This morning, I was engaged with the first of the Feature Artist Interviews over at Brainripples. Today’s feature artist is Ester Wilson – she’s worth missing a day or two of trees!

More to follow.

Reflections of Trees

Today’s image is from our travels on Halloween while staying in the Poconos. The beech trees are among the last trees in the Pocono area to hold and release their auburn leaves.

The week just got away from me! I still want so much to share all the fun things I saw in the Poconos, but you know how it goes after vacation...

Monday I’ll tell you about where we stayed, followed by some highlights of the parks we visited, the lakes and rivers we fished, and the trees and forests that kept us company along the way.

Playing in the Pocono Forests

In the Poconos, the trees are at a wonderful point where anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 (or more) of the trees in a given area are turning their leaves. Fiery reds, pinks, oranges, and golds are contrasted against rich greens and browns.

It was the ultimate in eye candy, and while my camera couldn’t possibly do our travels justice, these are just some of the beautiful things we saw in the forest. We visited the Delaware State Forest, Gouldsboro State Park, and Promised Land State Park, where most of these pictures were taken.

If anyone knows the identity of the plant in the eighth picture, please tell us! It looks so familiar, but I'm not quite sure what it is. Perhaps some type of fern?

Tomorrow: the Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area

The Festival of the Trees 4

The Festival of the Trees 4 is now online at Hoarded Ordinaries, courtesy of Lorianne. Please send good thoughts to Cindy at Woodsong for good health!

For more information about the Festival of the Trees, and how you can contribute your entries to next month’s Festival, visit the Festival of the Trees blog.

Coming up this week at Arboreality: more from Longwood Gardens, and a peek at autumn in the Poconos!

Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2006

One of the great things about moving some place totally different is the thrill of seeing new places, meeting new people, and having new experiences. Moving from Washington to Pennsylvania has been a great adventure, and it’s really only just begun.

I started looking into Pennsylvania’s government and representatives as soon as we decided on moving. Admittedly, I still write to Washington State Senators Murray and Cantwell whenever I write to Pennsylvania Senators Specter and Santorum. I guess I still feel like I have their ear, being from Washington originally.

Here is something from Cantwell’s work that I hope you will all take a moment to read, and if interested, support:

Senator Maria Cantwell’s Websites:
http://www.cantwell.com/

http://cantwell.senate.gov/

From the office of Senator Maria Cantwell:

For the past six years the Bush administration has waged a war on the environment. Cloaked in Orwellian names such as "Clear Skies" and "Healthy Forests," George Bush has slowly undone thirty years of environmental protections. Just last winter the Senate Republicans launched a renewed attack on the Arctic national Wildlife Refuge.

Now George Bush has set his sights on our last, untouched forests. The Bush Administration has reversed existing protections and is opening over 58 million acres of untouched forests across the United States to development. Only by working together can we stop this destruction of this national treasure.

Last Thursday, I introduced the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2006. This bill would block the Bush administration's attempts to open these 58 million acres of pristine, roadless forest by permanently protecting them against logging and road building. I need you to join me in this fight. This week, I will be asking my fellow senators to cosponsor the legislation and today I ask you to join me as a citizen co-sponsor of the Roadless Area Conservation Act.

Add your name as a citizen co-sponsor to this important legislation now.

Sincerely,

Maria Cantwell

There are many things you can do to help support this legislation. Here are just a few ideas:

- Sign online at Maria Cantwell's website to be a citizen co-sponsor of this legistlation

- Write to your congress women and men

- Share this information with others

- Visit our National Parks, and see for yourself just how beautiful, wondrous, and important America's wild places are for everyone.

Up a creek

Beltzville State Park was our last stop on the way home from the Poconos. We’d made our way down to the water with the intention of attempting to fish… only to find (once we’d read the 2006 Pennsylvania Fishing Summary) that it wasn’t permitted at this time of year. Unfortunately, we cannot be certain of that, because that guide was more obscure and inscrutable than the finest of fine prints. Perhaps it was merely our lack of experience that led to the misunderstanding, but one way or the other, we abandoned the idea of fishing all together for the weekend, and simply enjoyed the beauty around us.

By the by, if you look carefully across the water in the top image you'll see some of the rhododendrons on the far bank near the shoreline!

As above, so below

These images were taken on a trail to the Pohopoco Cove (or was it Wild Creek Cove?) in Beltzville State Park. It was such a beautiful, peaceful day, all grey and cold. I’m certain we reaped the benefits of Super Bowl Sunday, since things were wonderfully quiet at the park.

One of the most fabulous things I discovered over the weekend were the huge thickets of wild rhododendrons growing in the forests. While I know these can’t possibly be Pacific rhododendrons, I am dying to know what color the blossoms will be! You know I was enjoying my time looking at them, because I completely forgot to take any pictures of the rhododendrons to share with you!

I must return in the Spring…

Parks of the Poconos

We explored many a state park around the Poconos. You’ve seen a little of Tobyhanna, and today I’m sharing a few more images. The top image may well be my favorite image from the entire weekend! In this and the two subsequent images by the frozen Tobyhanna Lake, you can see just what an improvement my new camera provides! I’ve never been able to successfully zoom in and capture such close-up detail as this!

The last two images are from Hickory Run State Park. Hickory Run is loads of fun – there is a lot to see and do there, and there are some unique features, including the “Boulder Field.” The Boulder Field is the result of glacial stresses acting on nearby rock formations. As the glacier put pressure on the rock faces, boulders cracked off and rolled down to settle in this “field.” The field is over 400 feet by 1800 feet, and over 12 feet deep! According to the information panel near the site, this field has remained essentially unchanged for over 10,000 years.

The image of the creek is actually a piece of the Sand Spring Run, one of many waterways in the Hickory Run State Park. I could have sat next to it all day and just listened!

Pokin’ around the Poconos

This weekend we toured the Pocono Mountains in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It was a beautiful trip, and I have returned with many lovely images to share of the trees I met in the gorgeous hardwood forests of Pennsylvania.

A big thank you to Mom and Dad: I finally found the camera they gave me for Christmas, and took it along on the trip to try out its tree-legs. It’s a great camera, and hopefully will allow me to show you even better tree images in the blogging future.

These first images were taken at Tobyhanna State Park. Tobyhanna Lake was frozen over, and there were several folks ice fishing on the lake. This was the first time in my life that I've ever seen a lake all frozen over!