Doug Firs and Vine Maples

For Em

I hope you’re wearing something warm. Something waterproof too; with your face to the overcast sky, water drips down your cheeks. Looking up, long streaks of rain make their way toward Earth… and toward your eyes. But through the drops clinging to your eyelashes, you can see treetops stretching their limbs to soak in the cold, gray clouds.

Doug firs and sprigs of vine maple surround you. Although the miniature maples cling to their color, the coming fall has begun its work; yellow spots dance elegantly as water drips from one pointed leaf to the next, descending the shoots’ natural ladders. Can you hear the plop as the drops fall to each rung?

Living arms of the evergreens climb high above you, preceded by many dark limbs overcome with soft, spongy, moss. As many branches coat the forest floor as hang from trunks, matted with glistening brown needles.

Clovers grow abundantly through the layers of litter, far larger than the ones at the neighborhood park. And lacking the familiar white zig-zag pattern of the ones at home, these remain a single, solid green. If you turn over a leaf, you’ll find a maroon underside of a soft and smooth texture. A bite results in a crunch, followed by something sour… then sweet. Sour-apple candies are but a pale imitation in comparison. Why don’t you take some to snack on as you wonder.

Doodles by yours truly

Ahead of you there is a dirt path, nearly clear of any flora. The course is narrow, weaving around trees and breaking through overgrown ground covers; nothing so convenient as the straight and obvious man-made sidewalks. No, this trail was made to follow the natural flow of the forest.

Behind you, the trail seems interrupted by a sunken log. As you walk towards it, the spongy ground springs under every step. Approaching the fallen timber, you see that it is filled with soft chips, the remains of its core. In between patches of moss crawling up the decaying mass, candy cap mushrooms thrive on recycled nutrients. Even in death, nature still finds a way to provide for new life.

Look closer at the green reaching for the top of the nurse log… Do you see where it breaks? Where the path continues? Let’s cushion it with a blanket, just to keep the chill off, and relax against the natural backrest.

Take in the damp smell of the forest floor, balanced perfectly by the freshness of the rain-soaked greens. Do you catch the warm hint of cedar? Take another look around yourself. Can you spot the draping spider-web needles hiding among the foliage? Is it their familiarity that brings peace? Or just their ability to deter biting bugs?

Wrap yourself in all of the comforts that the forest has to offer. The still, cool air against your skin. The taste of dew on your tongue, mixed every now and then with an explosion of sour-apple clovers. The crunching in your ears as you savor every bite. And the sound of the pitter-pattering rain as it nurtures the very world around you.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse