If we keep having these lovely weather days I might have to change my negative feelings about the summer season. Returning to Avery Point we again found a song sparrow singing at the top of the beach rose bushes. I wonder if it’s the same one we met a month ago. He was in the same spot.
The bushes were full of rose hips but I think there will be another bloom or two left in the season.
Look who was very busy digging bugs out of the lawn…
I lingered under this immense copper beech tree and held my hand on it, soaking up some healing energy. (It’s trunk was way too big to hug!) Looking up into its branches was a transcendent experience.
We come into being in and through the Earth. Simply put, we are Earthlings. The Earth is our origin, our nourishment, our educator, our healer, our fulfillment. At its core, even our spirituality is Earth derived. The human and the Earth are totally implicated, each in the other. If there is no spirituality in the Earth, then there is no spirituality in ourselves.
~ Thomas Berry
(The Sacred Universe)
Not sure what kind of tree this is (below) but the slash in its bark was striking. I wonder how long it’s been there and if it grew with the tree…
What would our lives be without trees? Bleak and inhospitable, I’d say. What a blessing to have their gifts to us and the other creatures in our summer world.
So glad summer is treating you well. Love the photos and quote by Thomas Berry. So hot and miserable in Arkansas with no rain and lots of humidity. Normal weather.
Thank you, Peggy. Sorry to hear your weather is so miserable but I guess it’s what you folks expect it to be this time of year. I’m not sure why we’re getting away with this pleasant spell. I keep expecting the oppressive heat and humidity to catch up with us.
As always, a lovely walk. Cincinnati has had it’s share of hot and muggy (which I don’t like). Has that stuff avoided you so far?
Thank you, Frank. It got a little more warm and muggy yesterday but so far it still isn’t bad enough to turn on the air conditioning. Very unusual. It’s so nice to be able to listen to the birds singing all day. 🙂
That tree with the wound – I can see a small face on the top of the wound – and I do think it grew up with that wound – very old wound it seems, and still, it has not prevented the tree to grow as tall and beautiful and unique as she is ( is it a he?)
I see the face, too. It almost looks like a human face on top of a long snake running down the side of the scar. The wound is so smooth and light it almost seems fresh, not darkened with age as I would have imagined.
We’ve had hot and muggy here in Central Illinois — glad your weather has been better for you! I didn’t know there was a Northern Mockingbird — he’s pretty handsome!
Hope you’re managing to stay comfortable in spite of the heat and humidity out there. I bet Monkey does a lot of shedding this time of year! I learned that there are 17 species of mockingbirds but the northern is the only one we have in North America.
Yes, Barbara, I think the sparrow might be the same spirit that you previously saw. I noticed that the mourning doves come back to the same perches. And this spring a male cardinal showed up who sings love songs in the morning at my backyard. I’m certain the cardinal is the same spirit as he has frequents favorite perches.
The rose hip is very interesting! Have you eaten one?
I could see how the copper beech tree was mesmerizing. I hope that it shared its healing power with you and you rubbed some on Tim!
As I studied the scar on the unknown tree, I think perhaps it was struck by lightning? Don’t really know. The photo captures a creative critter within the scar. I spy a smirking mouth, a well defined nose, two eyes, one open, the other winking and rounded bear-like ears on top of this critter’s head. It seems to have a body of a stick. At first I thought I was going insane, but then in the comment section I read that Leelah saw it too. I felt relief.
I’ve never eaten a rose hip before. I worry that pesticides might be used on plants I find in public places. It does stand to reason that once the song sparrow staked out his claim to that clump of beach rose bushes that he would remain there for the summer at least. I used to see song sparrows in a thicket at Eastern Point but they kept cutting the thicket back and I stopped seeing them there. I love their songs! How lucky you were to have cardinal songs to brighten your mornings!
The idea of a lightning strike occurred to me, too. But I would think it would look more dark and burned and not so fresh and light. It’s a mystery… You give a great description of that face! The body made me think of a snake. The other thing I thought was unusual was the lack of insects crawling across the space.
The weather has been quite spectacular so far this summer, I must say, we’ve been a whole lot luckier than most of the country, thanks to the jet stream.
I love big, old trees– there is such dignity to them. I’d venture to guess that tree was struck by lightning, but is doing its best to close the wound. If no pathogens or fungus get in there, it should be okay in time.
We have been very lucky this summer, weather-wise. Sometimes I feel weather-guilt when I hear about the dangerous heat domes hovering over other parts of the country. But I suppose the sultry weather will catch up with us sooner or later. I will have to keep checking back on the tree with the wound and see how it changes over time. If I can remember exactly where it was…
A happy Song Sparrow and beautiful copper tree, I’d love to touch and absorb its energy too! Trees are a blessing to us, they provide us immensely. 🙂
I have a feeling our bird friends appreciate the gifts trees give even more than we do! Food (bugs and seeds) and shelter, they are wonderful providers. 🙂
I thought I saw beach roses last week at Lake Erie Metropark, but now I realize yours have thorns – I was going by the flower alone. Mine did not have thorns, nor hips – back to the drawing board I go then for tracking down beach roses. Barbara, you have a knack for getting those cute sparrows photographed, plus the catbirds and northern mockingbirds as well. Good for you doing that. That tree is amazing to see at ground level or gazing up at it.
Thank you, Linda. I love those little song sparrows and especially their singing. 🙂 It’s possible that any thorns or hips might not have been visible, hidden in the greenery and blooms. It seems there are times when the bushes are full of nothing but blooms, and other times when there is a mix of buds, blooms and hips. That copper beach has some wonderful healing energy emanating from it.
Maybe I was right after all Barbara. I looked that night but I’ve not looked at the photos yet. I just read about a elm tree that is 250 years old at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit. It is a very old cemetery and the tree is massive, but has recently been diagnosed with Dutch Elm Disease, a tree disease that nearly wiped out all our elm trees in the 60s and 70s. I have never been to this historic cemetery, but it’s supposed to be a great birding venue. With so many freeway shootings and other bad vibes in Detroit however, I have been and continue to be reluctant to go to Detroit.
My grandparents had a beautiful shady elm tree outside the window of the bedroom I used to sleep in when visiting them. I loved that tree. It somehow made it through the Dutch elm disease epidemic. The power company kept trying to cut it down because they thought it was too close to the power lines but finally agreed to let my grandparents keep trimming the branches away from the lines. That’s too bad you didn’t get a chance to see the ancient elm in Elmwood Cemetery. I bet when the cemetery was created if was full of elms, hence the name. 🙂 I don’t blame you for avoiding dangerous areas these days.
Those are nice memories Barbara – maybe even big enough to reach your bedroom window and look out at robin’s bests The Elmwood tree, just like yours, making it through the Dutch Elm disease epidemic was lucky to do so. We lost lots of trees then. I never knew anything about the cemetery’s trees until this story and I’ll bet you’re right about this cemetery getting its title. It is a birding haven for local birds
I love cemeteries with lots of old trees. They seem to be protecting the people who are buried there…