The Giants of West Virginia (SWF)

Tulip Tree,
Liriodendron tulipifera

New River Gorge, sunset

The afternoon sun shines strongly on the western-facing slope,
the New River, narrowly snaking far below, beyond densely treed ridges.
In the distance, that marvel of engineering, the giant spanning this divide, stands proudly above them all—within these woods, Tulip Trees, green giants in their own right, tallest of the eastern hardwoods.

Tulip Tree against evergreens

They are common here, and prized in the timber industry for their tall, straight trunks.
Yet, with each passing, my eye marvels at the leaf.




Tiny, tender, and green—folded in half, side-to-side, so perfectly, it seems to have been cut as a paper doll.
Unfurling from a sheath, to open broadly, flap and flutter against a blue sky.


And when I think I have not seen anything more beautiful than this leaf against the sun,
its glow fades into the fog--carries raindrops on its sturdy breadth.
And glistens like silver against the white sky.

(click to enlarge)

New River Gorge, sunset

The New River Gorge Bridge is the highest vehicular bridge in the Americas, crossing the New River in Fayetteville, West Virginia at a height of 876 feet. Completed in 1977, it was, until recently, the longest steel-arch bridge in the world.
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The Trees

Oak in field

We pass the farm fields, spreading in all directions, filling the space between various small villages, as we travel longer distances, out from our own small town.
This season’s harvest now past, hidden homes appear where acres of tall, dense corn touched the blue of the horizon.


My favorite marker of these places we pass, the trees, standing apart from it all.


Rooted here for years, as these fields, each time,
have turned from green...
to gold...
to brown.
Perhaps spared the axe or saw in order to shade the workers here, man or beast. Or grown from a seed, fallen in the pile of rocks cleared from the earth before planting.

In any case, they reign--
magnificent markers in a resting landscape.

Two Trees

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The color of rain

What color is the rain,
that softly falls on a quiet morning
from a colorless sky?


And bursts from fountains, tumbling.


Till all that remains
is a gossamer veil,
dancing in the gentle wind of spring.

I think it must be green.

First photo: Female Box Elder, pistillate flowers
Second photo: Male Box Elder, staminate flowers
Third photo: Flowering Box Elders reflected in pond
Fourth photo: Female Box Elder, leafing out

Excerpted from Wikipedia:
"Acer negundo is a species of maple native to North America.
Box Elder, Boxelder Maple, and Maple Ash are its most common names in the United States. Other variant names include Ash Maple, Ash-leaf Maple, Black Ash, Cut-leaved Maple, Negundo Maple, Red River Maple, Stinking Ash, Sugar Ash, and Three-leaved Maple.
Unlike most other maples (which usually have palmate leaves), it has pinnate leaves that have three to seven leaflets (usually three).

...And, unlike most other maples, A. negundo is fully dioecious and both a "male" and "female" tree are needed for either to reproduce".