My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
There is a favorite cottonwood tree along Stuart street where the beginning of the Fisher Nature Area trail starts. I have been trying to take images of the tree and trail in as many weather situations as possible. Actually that would need to be every day. The sun is out this morning and looks like a beautiful day ahead.
It has been raining for the past several days. Thankfully it has been a gentle and refreshing rain and much needed moisture. We have seen severe weather conditions over the past few days. There have been tornado warnings, hail warnings, flash flood warnings, and winter weather warnings. Temperatures started to drop down to freezing yesterday afternoon. As it dropped the rain changed to snow, heavy wet snow. My understanding is some areas of Colorado had as much as 6 inches of snow.
Fort Collins is reporting over 2.5 inches of moisture the past 3 days. The 1 to 3 inches of snow they predicted for last night fizzled out. We only received a dusting of snow as you can see in the above image taken this morning of a favorite cottonwood along the Fisher Nature Trail. The image below was taken yesterday afternoon from my bedroom window during some heavier rain.
And, Happy Mother’s Day to all!
A poor man becomes rich, the moment that he discovers the treasure hidden in his heart.
Have you ever just reached out and touched a tree trunk, stopped to touch a leaf or knelt down to just observe a fallen leaf or a broken branch? Have you spent time just looking as intently and as closely as possible? The more time I spend in nature the more I am fascinated with trees whether it is a grove of aspens, poplars along a river bank or a cottonwood standing alone on the horizon. So, my answer to those questions, yes.
As a young boy visiting relatives in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, my cousins and I would go fishing for catfish down on one the creeks. It always seemed like more fun to explore the creek than sit on the bank and watch a red and white bobber float on the muddy water. I ran through the fields catching grasshoppers. I climbed the trees along the creek banks and when tired laid down in the shade they offered. Fond memories for me.
Trees are one of the almost endless miracles of nature. There are unsupported statements that the cottonwood tree dates back to the Cretaceous Period, about 145 million years ago and possibly to the Jurassic Period – 200 million years ago. Makes our lifetime miniscule. I was taught to respect our elders and as I move more towards being an elder myself I grow in my respect for nature as one of my elders.