December
17, 2007 at Friendly Forest was a dark, foggy mid-winter day. It
was a perfect day to get out of the house to walk amid my friends
the creatures of the forest. Snow shoes were mandatory
as we have several feet of accumulated snow. The following
images are thumbnails which can be clicked to see a larger
version.
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The
human eye adjusts to the darkness of the forest, but the camera
does not do so. As a result
I have had to brighten the images to approximate what it looked like
in my mind's eye. The images are simply in the sequence in which
I took them on a circuit hike beginning and ending at the house. My
companion is my four-footed friend King.
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The house from the vehicle parking area
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Looking down toward the Initi area
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The
front of the shop and garage area. The first thing that you
see when driving into the area
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Starting
the trail. You
are careful to not bump into overhanging branches if you want to avoid
a neck full of cold snow
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King
waits for me while scouting the area for signs of other four-footed
companions. A
moose has a bedding down spot in this area
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King's nose
is always active. I
often wonder at the totally new world he knows that I can only wonder
at.
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When you
see snow-loading like this you understand why tree symmetry is important. Unsymmetrical
branch growth can cause a tree to be felled under the weight of
uneven snow loads.
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 This
part of the trail is actually under water and we were walking on ice
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On the far side of the pond I did a telephoto image of the house
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This image with a near pine branch gives a better perspective of the
size of the pond
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An example
of what snow loading can do to trees. In this case
a young spruce tree.
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This is the
work of a Pileated Woodpecker. He/ she flew off as
I approached.
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I call this
tree my 'medicine tree". It guards the West Gate
of the Sacred Hoop Trail and it holds the blue prayer ties from my Spring
Fast in May 2007.
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King waits
for me to pass through the East Gate. The bare tipi
poles and Eagle are visible in the background
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The red prayer ties that are hanging near the East Gate
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This sculpture of Eagle guards the Camp and the East Gate area
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The
poles wait for warmer weather and a new season of sheltering those
who come to pray at the Hoop
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King
has been altered to a sound or scent in the forest
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Back home. This
image is a view from the pond side looking up at the deck area
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Most
images of the pond posted to this site have been taken while standing
on this deck. The
tree to the left is the large birch tree that graces my regular
view from the house.
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