More walking through woods

Needing to finish my photos from my walk in the woods, I ask you to bear with me as I try to get caught up with all the photos waiting to be posted. I have some amazing plants to share with you connected with this walk. I',m afraid if I do them first I will not get to the rest of these marvelous things I saw, photoed and want to share with you. The others I will wait until after all my fall travels, as there will be plenty of time over the winter to show you all my in season photos that have been hanging around, very patiently I might add, to be uploaded and shared through a post.

There is a most unusual tree on the way into the woods. The main part of the tree is dead, has been here for 22 years. We used to just wait for it to fall. I didn't want to cut it down as it just was too special. As a mathematician, where else can you find a tree with such a great angle??!!



Now the most unusual part about it is not that it is angled. If you look closely at the very bottom of this photo, you can see that there is another tree growing out of it. Talk about the inner tree wanting life!!



Either Matt or Logan had pointed out another example to me early this spring. In that case it is a tree that had very large portions fall during storms over the years. As it was the tree that held the end of my clothesline, (Yes, folks I hang my clothes out as frequently as possible, have done it forever), I did not want to lose that limb. So now I'm off to find those pictures! Hopefully I won't get sidetracked for another story in the meantime.
(Didn't get too sidetracked. Saw a great photo of Jewelweed, Touch=me=not, and just found out on the foraging hike that the seeds are edible. Then spoke with one of my sisters yesterday and she told me the whole plant iis!! And, I have it growing all over as the kids love to pop the seed pods, which are all ripening just right now!!! Did not act on the urge to add that photo hin here. But that will be for another day!!)

So, about the tree, you can see from this photo that it is entirely dead, like the other one.




As you follow the tree upwards, only the inner part of the outer bark can be seen from this angle. It is a complete half shell, with the entire inner side of the outer bark showing.




So loooking up, this is what you see. Another small tree has grown within, sending its roots down the tree in search of sustenance. Oh, the marvels of nature. So another dead tree stays . As this is a very dark photo, I will get another picture of this for a clearer view on a subsequent post. This had been taken very early in the morning.


And deep in the woods, this tree has a small companion at its feet. It is a great example of the kinds of mosses that can be found in wetlands. Don't know the variety as there are just so many.



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