Trees

[cosmolinguist]

It's strange that trees remind me of home almost as much as tractors would.

Yes, Minnesota has some thick forests, remnants of which have managed to survive decades of enthusiastic logging. But mostly they're in the northern part of the state, as far away from my house than I currently am from Amsterdam or Paris.


I've seen that part of the state, yes--sometimes as much as a week per year!--but is it really fair to think it's mine just because it shares the postal abbreviation MN with me?

Because where I live trees, like tractors, are evidence of deliberate actions of humans for their own benefit. Many of those in our yard were planted by my parents or grandparents--to stave off wind or snow, or just because trees are nice, or whatever.


Sherwood Forest felt different, in ways the pictures of anonymous leaves and branches probably don't convey, from what I'm used to "forest" being in Minnesota.

Is it just the age? Trees can't help but tell you how old they are and where they've been. They grow strong trunks and intricate systems of branches, becoming respectable and even beautiful without needing to do anything flashy or see what's on the other side of the world or even the other side of the forest.


Or maybe it's just that I'm from a rural area, and I've been living in a city.

One morning recently I was lying in bed and thinking about how man-made my world is. Sometimes I forget that roads and sidewalks are actually put there by people, that grass and rocks and dirt were at some point actually plastered over with concrete and bricks.

Obvious, yes, but a weird thing to actually contemplate sometimes.


demiurgician, melnamy and I were all stopping approximately every three seconds to photograph something irresistable. No one minded if one of us lagged behind or wandered ahead; we all understood.

The weather had been gorgeous all day and the mid-afternoon sunlight was obliging us with displays so lovely even an abject amateur with a cheap digital camera could handle them. Or so I hope.


As I was sizing up one of my shots, I heard demiurgician next to me saying something about the interplay of light and shadow. It made me smile.

"I told you about wanting to get a female black-and-white cat, didn't I?" I shook my head. "I want to get a black-and-white cat, and name her Chiaroscuro. Chiara for short." That made me smile too.

Comments

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

We like Holly's new icon.

[cosmolinguist]

SURE! I take pictures of all kinds of nice TREES and things, and put them on the computer, which is DIFFICULT, and put all these nice WORDS in between them, and what do you have to say about all this? That the tiny picture ELIZABETH took is good, even though there are hardly any trees in it becaue of that GIRL in the way!

[karaksindru.livejournal.com]

Very nice photos, my dear :) And congratulations for having gone through the work to get them off the camera :)

I do have to agree with Andrew though ... we like Holly's new icon :)

[cosmolinguist]

Aw, you're just sayin' that. :-) Thanks.

[emyjo.livejournal.com]

As a northern MN native and someone who's spent a lot of time in its woods (www.emyjo.com/EmyJoPhoto.html), Sherwood Forest SHOULDN'T feel like the woods of MN. For a number of reasons.

First off, it's a forest, and we have woods. Why? Nothing in the US is enchanted. Ever. And we don't have anything the likes of Sherwood Forest. We have no Robin of Hoods. We have only Oppenheimers and Rockefellers, who are famous for their concrete and their steel.

While you can walk around downtown Chicago and feel the history, you feel it in terms of prohibition and the mob. Only by really stretching your imagination can you think about it in terms of what it once was - green, and plains, and valleys. You have to cross concrete to get even to Lake Michigan.

Sometimes I think about what it was like in my neighborhood before people. I think I'd like it.

[cosmolinguist]

Yeah, it's the magic. Hence I was worried that it wouldn't come through in the pictures, which are themselves just of leaves and branches. I just didn't think they'd be as impressive to anyone who wasn't there and doesn't, like me, remember them. Of course I hoped to be wrong, and I'm glad you saw what I wasn't sure was actually there to be seen.

[quuf.livejournal.com]

Just beautiful. Nice pictures, too. ;-)

Did you stop by Hathersage for a pint?

[cosmolinguist]

Thank you.

And no, we didn't, perhaps because all our time was taken up with public transport and waiting for it. That'll have to wait until our next trip, I guess.

[ivana-duboise.livejournal.com]

Chiaroscuro?! Oh dear me.

[cosmolinguist]

Because your names for cats are so normal? :-)

[ivana-duboise.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what you're talking about.