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Earlier this year, just before the leaves came out on the eighty foot high Sweetgum tree in our yard, my husband cut it down. Any doubts we may have had about removing it as an ornamental disappeared when we saw how easily the branches snapped, and how the tree was starting to rot from the inside out. Setting the logs aside as I helped to lower them, I noticed these shapes produced by the dying core.
Idaho, USA-BC Canada border June 11, 2011 and Feb. 13, 2013
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…Heaven’s in our hearts…
Excerpt from “Heaven’s Here On Earth” by Tracy Chapman from her CD, “New Beginnings”:
Heaven’s here on earth
in our faith in humankind
in our respect for what is earthly
in our unfaltering belief in peace and love and understanding.
I’ve seen and met angels wearing the disguise of ordinary people leading ordinary lives,
filled with love compassion forgiveness and sacrifice.
Heaven’s in our hearts.
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Left: Children watch on as snake-wranglers demonstrate various tricks goading the rattlesnakes. Fangs have broken the balloons, foreground, during demonstrations at the annual Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater, Texas. The Texan cultural tradition, both horrifying and curiously fascinating, takes place during Springtime every March, when thousands of rattlesnakes are competitively captured each year and placed in pits inside the local arena, with wrangling demonstrations, milking, skinning, tables of bizarre crafts, the sale of deep-fried rattlesnake, and even a meat-eating contest involving Miss Roundup’s participation. Next photo: Individuality – each snake has its own unique markings and colors.
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Now that we are moving from Texas and may never live there again, I’m so glad we went. View more photos posted on March 15th 2009, the initial post of Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater TX.
Neighborhood Cypress, a favorite subject and “Moon Over Cypress” series, Dancing With Trees collection, taken at various times of day, seasons, and weather conditions since 2004. Lewisville, Texas
Avocado leaf, heart-shaped caterpillar munch, the most recent addition to the Heart Shapes in Nature series.
