Gondola view

It was interesting to look down at the trees from the gondola transporting us up the mountain side. Those same trees are tall and majestic from the ground.  I've often thought stretching this picture to fill a canvas would make a lovely abstract painting. The contrast between light and dark of snow and bark is breathtaking.

Colorful

Another photo from my trip to Brisbane. There was so much color everywhere you looked!

Resilience

Trees are very hardy and grown in conditions that continually amaze me. Like the face of this rock wall.

Unusual in Brisbane

Four years ago, I attended a conference in Australia. I'd never before been down under, and while it was primarily a work trip, I did take a day before and a day after to explore. The day before, I went to a koala sanctuary outside of the city, which had much more than koalas. The last day, I went for a long, long wander, taking many pictures of trees and the city and the Japanese meal that I had for lunch. While I'd love to share my other pictures sometime, for now I'm only sharing trees. This was one of the unusual trees that I passed on my last day in the city.

Willow

I love the way willows trail their leaves down into the water. I used to imagine the branches were curtains and peek out through them at the rest of the world. Or wear green leafed wigs. 

Pink Crepe Myrtle

Leaf view

I like to tip my head back and stare up through the leaves at the sky.  It's a wonderful view.

Stripy Maple Whirlygigs

Last photo of the stripy maple. I know that some people call the seeds of maple trees helicopters, but to us they were always whirlygigs. I love the way that they almost look like butterflies!

Fall colours

We're not quite seeing these colours yet, but they're coming. A deep inhale and all is well in my world.

Stripy Maple - up close

More stripy, dark bark and bright green leaves.

Tree skirt

Apparently, they like to dress their trees in Portland, Oregon. I was greatly amused

Stripy Maple - through the leaves

You can see in this photo why I'm calling it the stripy maple. Also, I love the contrast of the dark, stripy bark and the bright green leaves, with the sun shining through.

Mulberry tree

The quality isn't the greatest. I'm shooting through the screened window. However, this mulberry tree appeared one year at the corner of my house. In the Spring it bears lovely delicious fruit and feeds all the babies in the neighbourhood.

The robins didn't nest in this tree but they all learned to feast here as soon as they could fly.

The squirrel used to grab a berry then peer in the window and watch me write while it ate. Who knew I was a star on Squirrel TV?

Stripy Maple

On Saturday I went for a walk in my neighborhood with my camera. It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining. The bark on the trees was wet from rain during the night. I fell in love with a number of trees, including this stripy, twisty, Japanese maple. I loved it so much, you're getting several days of pictures.

Dressed in ivy

I know Ivy is a parasite but, I like the way it looks climbing the tree trunk

Grandma's House

Last summer, I spent a fair amount of time helping my mom clear out my grandma's house when grandma moved to a nursing home. Looking back over the pictures I took that last day, I was hoping for a picture of my grandma's apple tree. Unfortunately, I managed to take just about every angle of the the house but one that captured the apple tree, so instead I'm sharing this lovely shot of the front of her small house, and the grand old tree shading the front yard.

Dancing tree

There's something about the twist in the solid heavy trunk contrasted with the graceful lines of the branches that makes me think of a belly dancer.

What do you think?

Roland Park - far

I stood like a fool in the middle of the boulevard waiting for the right moment to take this picture. First, it was a huge truck that did a U-turn in front of me (and then took out a large branch on a tree in a nearby yard -- grrrr). Then I had to wait for the sun to come out from behind a cloud. And wait. And wait. Finally, I was able to get the shot that I wanted.

Butterfly conservatory

I have no idea what kind of tree this is but the butterflies like it. I like the roots sticking up so high out of the soil

Roland Park -- close

Roland Park is a boulevard that runs through a posh neighborhood (with the same name). While I would never want to live there, they do have very nice trees, including the trees planted in the middle of the boulevard. This is one of them, up close. I was appreciating the shadows of the leaves and the texture of the bark.

Evergreen

This lovely evergreen always looks in need of a drink but that's just part of its languid style.

Maple in the rain

I took this picture walking to work this morning. This Japanese maple reminded me that trees are even beautiful in the rain.

Also there is now a(nother) picture of a tree with lovely flowers up below the lilacs below. Just pretend it's been up there for a couple days.

Blooming lilac

This lilac grows to the right of my brother's front door. No one uses that door but my niece and I have been known to sit on the step so that we can commune with the lilac.

Crepe Myrtle

I love crepe myrtles. I was first introduced to them when I moved to Houston years ago after college. But I wasn't around them for many, many years, and it took me awhile to remember what these trees* were after I moved to Maryland. At the moment, they are in bloom everywhere and very beautiful.

*According to Wikipedia, crepe myrtle is "a genus of around 50 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs". Let's just pretend the photo about is of a tree.

Whistler Pines

This was the view from my nephew's couch when he was living in Whistler in 2010. Take a deep breath and inhale the healing scent of pine. It was incredible and the photo can't possibly do it justice.

Panera Tree

I've started going to Panera for breakfast on Sunday. It gets me out of the house, which is good, as I tend to be a hermit. Also, spinach and artichoke egg souffle. Mmmmmm. The Panera I go to is in a shopping plaza, but they have there outside tables setup in this little patio area, with a small patch of green including this little tree. If you sit, facing away from the parking lot, it makes a lovely spot to start the day.

Ocracoke

This grove of trees was difficult to photograph as so many of them twisted and turned, shaped by the wind that cuts across the small island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Near Falls of Braur

I loved the way the moss and lichen was clinging and dripping from the trees in these woods.

Ancient cork

This lovely is growing along the Potomac, in among the cherry trees. There was a plaque asking people not to touch as age had made the bark brittle.

Look at that trunk

Oxford Straight

Tall trees are magnificent to look at, but hard to photograph.

Pennsylvania Avenue

This lovely tree is across the street from the White House. While everyone was oohing and ahhing over the Presidential mansion, I was snapping this lovely tree from several different angles.