Interrupted fern, Osmunda claytoniana, is common in throughout Maine—this specimen being in our forest. The dark green leaves in the center of the stalk are not actually leaves, but sporangia, spore-bearing structures. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Nature
As if by Magic . . .
As if by magic, our forest springs back to life. Within a week or so, fern has returned to the understory. The new green combined with the warm evening sun makes the new foliage startling. Click on the image for a larger view.
The Kennebec at Dusk
We often walk along the Kennebec river in the town of Hallowell in the evenings. The spring runoff can make the river a dirty brown torrent. Click on the image for a larger view.
The Arrival of Spring
Our wild plum have just come into blossom. These flowers mark the first sign of spring. Our forest trees are just showing their new foliage and fern and other forest plants are spouting. And while the new green is wonderful, the white flowers of our plum is magical. Later in the summer, we hope to harvest some fruit from these trees. Click on the image for a larger view.
Waiting . . .
After a long winter, waiting for springs can be hard—waiting for the last of the snow to disappear, waiting for the trees to bud, waiting for the crocuses to break the ground. You notice the wildlife return first, birds mostly. But even the annual residents seem to be more visible, more active, as if the avian and mammalian world is cheering the flora on.
This is one of my favorite places on our land—a small grove of young trees that are pioneering a corner of a field we have. At dusk, the sun illuminates these tender trunks. Unlike the more established trees in our forest, these project a kind of optimism for the future. Click on the image for a larger view.
Vernal Pools
Early spring is not the prettiest time in Maine—we call it mud season. The ground cover looks flat and spent as if the winter has beaten it into submission. The soil, if not frozen, is waterlogged, where rain and melting snow collects into pools. But there is magic here. The freeing of the water from its winter solidity starts the return of life. The sun mixes in energy, powering a change in chemistry. Like an infinite blue sky that can suddenly become populated with clouds, this barren land will recover. Click on the image for a larger view.
Vernal Streams
Warm weather has returned to Maine. Most of the snow pack has melted since last week. Because the melt happens long before the trees regain their foliage, the water collects in vernal streams and pools. Once the foliage returns, the trees will absorb that excess water. By summer, this area of our forest will have a thick carpet of fern. Click on the image for a larger view.
Waiting for Spring
It has been another long winter in Maine. I know technically it is spring and we are on daylight savings, but the reality outside has not kept up with the calendar—we still have a thick snowpack and the days have been windy and cold. Hopefully, in about a month and a half, our forest will look a little more like this. Click on the image for a larger view.
Horizon
The clarity of the atmosphere in the winter is striking. The horizon, that line dividing the sky from the water, is like a knife edge—a demarcation of our world. There is a magnetism to that unknown over the horizon. Yet, the unknown below the surface of the water ties us to the land. Click on the image for a larger view.
Tracks
Locard’s exchange principle, named after the French forensic scientist, can be summed up simply—every contact leaves a trace. No matter how small nor how transitory, our journeys leave something of us behind and carry away something with us. Every track, no matter if taken by a solitary traveler, is woven with those that came before and will come after. Click on the image for a larger view.
