Sky Watch Friday

We hiked the trails of Germantown Reserve last weekend. And of all the areas the trails pass through, the Old Growth Forests always attract me. To be beneath the stately trees that have watched the land change.
Among them, two-hundred-year old Beeches.



Their silvery bark, weathered and worn, yet, so recognizable against the brown, leafless woods.






They rise beside the trail. Their branches still hanging on to the last papery leaves of summer.






Reaching to touch the sky.

Have you seen...

The trails were ours alone at Germantown Reserve.
The browns of fall, faded now. The sunlight barely penetrating, though not a leaf between us and sky.

We walked past tree after tree, the gray furrowed bark chipped bare--a brilliant, red core revealed.
In the distance, the Pileateds call.
These woods of Twin Creek are their home.

New work and old.



The striking black-and-white, with the showy red crest has carved his name here.
The deep, chiseled holes equally striking in the spring sunshine.


Cherry trees.




And fallen chips.

"Have you seen...." is an effort to discover the unusual beauty in things not usually appreciated for their beauty.