Sunday, April 5, 2015

Good Morning Jessicca

Letter to my Daughter
Sunday, 5 April



Good Morning Jessicca…

This is the time in each year nature sheds its hunkered down ways and revives itself to benefit from the launch of spring.  Friday morning started out cool and overcast, kind of like the June-gloom mornings I experienced as a kid growing up in San Diego.  I drove about three miles to the site of this morning’s browse.



I walked an abandoned road into the forest.




The creek was low, leaving a necklace of still ponds for tadpoles to grow.




Dogwood is in bloom.   Bees are here but it’s still too early for hummingbirds.




Some tree crowns filled with vine, looking like soaring bramble.




Thick and rope-like these vines grasp the nearest tree, catching a ride upwards.




Much of the area still has the feel of winter, but this will quickly change.




A derelict shed gives way to the incessant pull of earth.




Strewn wood waits for the services of fungus and termite to return it to the soil.




Two wild turkey flew into a farmer’s field and were quickly hidden by the grass.




North Carolina’s natural state is a carpet of forest.  Trees grow at the slightest provocation.


Ever wonder where the term tar heel comes from?  It’s what North Carolinians call themselves – like Hoosiers of Indiana.    I think it has to do with all these trees.  Old sailing vessels would put into this state’s ports for refitting because wood was so readily available.  The tar used in processing the wood for ocean voyages would get on the workers’ feet and they would track it everywhere.  It’s a nickname quickly and accurately given.

Love,
          Dad


© Tom Taylor   All Rights Reserved.




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