Love Affair with the Santa Barbara Moreton Bay Fig Tree

And then I saw you, silhouetted on the sidewalk.

Like a thousand eyes watching, no part of me left unseen.

Limb by limb, shoulder by shoulder, learning you petal by petal.

Snake-like and certain, our tongues smell earth, breeze, ocean mist.

A fence may stand between us, but I still feel your electricity;

gaze on your sweet under-places luminous with sunrise.

I reach up as you reach up, bend back and breathe in;

shimmy in the warmth of new day and clap, extend a fresh leaf on each bright finger.

I take pictures of your curves so I can stare at you alone, smooth my finger along forbidden branches; sigh.

Your infinite patience dwarfs me. I leave you smaller than I began.

Quietly I admire your persistent fruitfulness, your marriage of mathematics and magic.

We listen closely together to hear above the highway, small moments flicker as shadow follows shadow.

I want to sit back to trunk with you; exhale, close my eyes and wait for understanding.

* * *

© 2008 Jade Leone Blackwater

For The Festival of the Trees 28: Art and Arboreality

October 1, 2008.

The Festival of the Trees is a monthly blog carnival hosted at a different blog each month. The theme for the Festival of the Trees 28 is "Art and Arboreality", which will be published on Wednesday, October 1, 2008.

I'm still accepting a few late entries, so if you would like to participate just follow these three easy steps:

1. Let a tree inspire you today.



2. Share your creation at your blog.



3. Email me your submission: jadeblackwater [at] brainripples [dot] com.

PS - Special preference given to all you fortunate folks seeing those beautiful autumn colors!!! Won't some kind, northerly blogger send me a sumptuous sugar maple in autumn color?

Black Walnut Snow Dance

Freezing Rain in the Trees

Now, I realize that freezing rain is downright dangerous for driving… but it is SO GORGEOUS when it paints every needle and twig with icy crystals! Pictured here is a Pin Cherry (Prunus pennsylvatica), and an Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus), two of my dearest Pennsylvania friends. [Again, remember you can always click pictures to enlarge for a better view].

Spring is Coming!

The breeze is warm tonight at sunset. This black walnut will be one of the last trees to put out leaves this spring, followed by the butternut.

I have a great collection of images to share with you this week showing the first signs of swelling buds on trees and flowering plants. I'm also going to do something about that header - thanks for your patience while Arboreality enjoys a little maintenance.

More fun with fungi

While crawling through the trees today, I found this beautiful fungus family growing on a tree branch. I just had to share its delicate frills with you! Isn't it amazing the way it has wraped itself in layers around the branch?

Coming up this week: more flowers, fresh buds, and trees of course.

Half full

The moon is just past half full, and the vernal equinox is a mere two weeks away! I can't wait to learn what these trees look like with their leaves on.

Tomorrow, I'll have some fun things to share with you from my explorations this evening among the hedges.

Perspective

One thing I find that makes my tree photography more fun and interesting, is to offer you images of trees from unique perspectives. When I explore trees, I crouch down to see their roots, tip-toe to peek at their branches, and lean in to examine their bark. In my photography, I attempt to share my exploration of trees with you through my eyes (and my camera's, of course).

Yesterday I realized that one perspective I have not been able to enjoy or share is what it looks like to be up in a tree looking down. It’s something that few of us ever see ourselves, unless we are truly avid arborealists in the more general sense of the word. I’m not a professional tree climber, although I know some folks who are. I promise that whenever I finally get my chance to scale the trees, I’ll be certain to get some images to share with you from above.

Incidentally, these images were taken of another unknown tree located along the driveway. This one is adjacent to my neighbor’s home, and like so many of the trees around here, is too large to enjoy in just one shot. These are but a few glimpses of its grandeur. More to follow!

Dripping with Diamonds

This is my first encounter with freezing rain! It’s really beautiful, although dangerous on the roads.

The trees are all bejeweled with ice, and the world smells beautifully damp with rain!

Moon in the trees

Moon caught in the trees
playing hide and seek with me
between branch and cloud

Brachiation

The other day, UltimateWriter commented on the prospect of climbing these trees… I continue to look up wistfully into the branches, but have yet to venture into the above.

In these images you can see some ideal seating in the lower branches, and have a better view of what I’ve been talking about with the divergence from the primary trunk into several stout, parallel branch/trunks.

The bottom image shows one of the largest branches to be cast off in the last big windstorm. This behavior has influenced my theory that this tree is somehow naturally inclined to grow in such a non-uniform manner. There is evidence of previous similar breaks along the tree, as well as places where limbs were sawed off to prevent them from encroaching on the cottage.

Around the area I’ve investigated several other trees of apparently the same species and roughly the same age. While they all show evidence of this same type of divergence in their structure, few show as many different branch/trunks as this one!

Trees sans migraines

It must be great
to be a tree
who never has migraines
quite like me!