This is where I walk Blake on most mornings. A pretty boring road next to a field. The other side of the road is probably pretty boring to other people too. But not to me. Here, oak trees grow. And other trees too, but I don’t know their names. Between the trees grow grasses, weeds and wildflowers. It is like a stretched out mini forest.
There is something very soothing about these trees, the oak trees, in particular. With their twisted branches and gnarly bark. And now they have leaves, their rustling in the breeze. I think there may be something to shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing. The Japanese have poetic sounding words for everything, don’t they?
On some days, I very much need the solace of being in nature, even if it is just this small stretch of a dozen or so trees.
And of course, my (almost) daily photo project is still going strong. I go and take a picture of my oak tree pretty much every day. Yes, it is ‘my’ tree now. ;-) I was very sad to see that someone had lit a fire at its base the other day. Why would you do that?
A couple of days after I took the pictures above, the council had been out and cut down all the pretty wildflowers and I had a bit of an aha moment. Those wildflowers had grown really tall and the little road was pretty secluded from the houses overlooking the other road behind the verge where the trees grow. That quiet road, with the wildflowers ‘protecting’ it, had felt like my own little place. It’s a quiet road, there’s rarely anyone else there, except for the occasional dog walker.
With the coverage of the wildflowers gone, I suddenly felt quite exposed. Not that I think the people who live in the houses care much about some random person walking their dog! But still.
Now I’m waiting for the wildflowers to grow back… :-)