Deep, cool woods

[gurdonark]

Here in Collin County, Texas, woods tend to flow along streambeds. One seeks out these wetland woodlands, the closest thing to natural gold on a hot May day.





I walked yesterday to mentally prepare for a Summer in which I plan to get a great deal done. In the midst of the woods, I saw this flower climbing a tree:

.

I like the timeless quality of the scraggle woods. This burr oak tree began growing in this woodland some 250 years ago, decades before Ms. Bessie Heard started a nature foundation so that I could one day hike and see it. Thomas Jefferson had not written the Declaration of Independence when this free-standing tree took root.



Outside the wooded sections, wild prairie grasses and wildflowers mixed among the invasive farm grasses. I was at peace.



Only thirty five miles away, one million people sweltered under concrete encased heat.

Comments

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I plan to go west a couple of hundred miles some Saturday, to the land of pure prairie (league) and oil wells, and show how glorious that area, too, can be. But here we are in "prairie transition zone", a mix of woodlands along wetlands and prairie.

[sapience.livejournal.com]

woods tend to flow along streambeds

There's actually a word for that: riparian. Cool, huh?

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

It is a cool word. I love riparian habitats--fern jungles, willows, wetland shrubs!

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

1. thank you for these nice pix.
2. they remind me of looking out the sixth floor apartment window, which is just above the treetops, now fully fledged, each a different shape, color, texture, and watching them for the first time since they got leaves toss in the wind. today. beautiful.
3. i saw a 600 year old japanese vase this week and had the very same thomas jefferson thought while looking at it.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

What great fortune,
that just above-the-tree-tops
sigh, as if the trees' new leaves
gave you new eyes, with which to see
something beyond the spindly, bare limbs
blown by February winds, but instead
textures and colors in the breeze.

That's great that you had that same Thomas Jefferson moment! that doesn't often happen to me, but it did yesterday. thanks for commenting.

[eebomb.livejournal.com]

Whenever i see a picture of nice thick woods like those i wonder what it smells like. i love forest air.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

The part you'd like best here is the mildly ferny, wetlands scent as the lowland portion of the trail is hiked.

[burninggirl.livejournal.com]

Just beautiful. I like the first and third pictures especially. It looks so cool and inviting.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like them. On this week in particular, as you sit in a cool Canberra winter, just remember that a Texas Spring, when everything works out green and sunny, is just around the corner, even if only in my thoughts.

[bramey.livejournal.com]

There's the Texas I used to love! I'd return if I were promised that and not the concrete jungles or briny stink of the Galveston coast :-/

Keep posting those pictures. If I were convinced to back, my parents would be forever in your debt!

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

It's still here, and rural areas still abound in TX. You just have to come home and find them again.

Although born in TX, I'm acculturated an Arkansan, so precious woodlands like this are things I long for each weekend.

[laruth.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the wonderful journey!

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Thanks for tagging along!