Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Some Winter Greenery

 Despite its being a gray and windy day with a storm looming to the North, these scenes made me feel warm.  Only a short distance from yesterday's goose and fungus photos, I walked through the woods and found vegetation that proved to me plants can be beautiful in mid-winter.  The persistent manzanita berries were almost black, but will probably hang on until the spring buds push them off.  These clusters made me wish I'd had the time to draw and paint.  Also, the longer you stay in a spot, the more likely something exciting will happen. 
 Growing up in Massachusetts, I used to see drawings and paintings of trees like this in my cowboy and Indian books, especially ones by Holling C. Holling.  I didn't think trees like this existed, but now I live among them.
 A scatologist is rather like an archaeologist.  There's a story in this poop.  I didn't think to place a pen or a comb on the ground for scale.  This gathering of bear scat is around a foot from end to end.  Evidence of the bear's diet was easy to read.
                                         Prickly Ponderosa it is. 
 The male cones of California Incense Cedar provide a nice color contrast with the foliage.
 This is the sort of view you often see of Coastal Redwoods on post cards.  Here we have Douglas-fir.  When I get in a spot like this, I feel like a little kid again.  I could stare straight up until my neck cramps, then do it again and again.

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