Shades of Green

While my students were getting their adrenaline rush on the zipline tour this Sunday past,
and since I had zipped last year, I opted for a slow, explorative wander in the woods.

Footbridge over foggy bottom

There is something enchanting and faintly prehistoric about the cloud canopy - the richness and abundance of flora, and presumably fauna, though none seen other than hummingbirds and butterflies, is enough to slow my pace, and that is not an easy task.  There are too many visual impressions - my eye is in constant intensive motion acting as compositor for my camera.

And this day, it really was the cloud canopy, for it was drenched in fog, mist and light rain the entirety of the walk, the colors were rich, deep and dark shades of green punctuated by crisp bright.colors of flowers and roots.  The wander took us up, down and over valleys, slopes and suspension footbridges, over and astride a swirling river, treating the eye to vistas large and very small.  Tunnel openings of mysterious unseen creatures under rocks and ledges. The webs of spiders illuminated by droplets of water, their creators tucked nearly invisibly under a leaf.  The smell of dampness and woodland rot, and the fragrance of occasional flowers.  And then there is the light that illuminates everything in such a contrast as to be simultaneously fuzzy and sharp.

So rather than continue to write as rich and lengthy a prose as necessary to describe my compositions, seeing them would provide far greater pleasure.  After all, a picture is worth . . .

Delicate fern tips reflected

Standing upright UNDER this fern

Climbing for light

A contrast of foggy forest textures

The reach of the fiddlehead

Dappled damp converging shades of green

Red "walker" roots - colored socks?

Delicate is the lacy balance of web, branch, leaves and water, a fleeting capture soon to evaporate

Bright blue topside in flight, spooky when not

As if on fire, a bright spot in the green

From under, looking up