when a tree falls in the forest....let there be light

I was coming down off the ridge by way of cane hollow the other day. I had gone on a "head clearing power walk / fence check" .

 

Mission accomplished, my mind was refreshed and calmed by the healthy green-ness of the younger trees and the signs of a good hickory nut crop coming on.

But somehow, sometimes, when you head back home in a hurry to get back to work, you do the same thing in the woods that you might do on the interstate. Your mind gets so caught up in planning for work that you bring yourself up with a start and say to yourself "my god! I have been driving mindless and blind for the last 10 minutes!

 

This gaping hole of bright sunlight in a familiar and formerly dark stretch of wooded hillside brought me back to the moment with an abrupt start.

 

The large and otherwise healthy looking oak laying on its side had not been there long enough to wilt its leaves, and its shattered trunk appeared without disease or hollowness, so what crashed it to the forest floor? We have not had any storms, wind or lightening in recent weeks. Perhaps it was suicide.

Whatever the cause, it has fallen across a major deer trail and also blocked my northern route back from the spring...guess I will wait for the deer to re-route and see if there transportation engineering design matches mine. Will also watch to see if the sunlight brings black raspberries or wood goldenrod to fill in the opening