An Oddly Amorous-Looking Tree

Or so it looked to me, at least.  Maybe it was just my mind that was in the gutter^

 

Another Alfalfa Lookalike

 

Related post:  Is That You, Alfalfa?

Rather Remarkable

I was just walking by when I happened to look up and saw this tree branch.

It was visually a little confusing at first due to the profusion of greenery, but I quickly realized that it was a dead branch, a disconnected limb that was all that remained of a tree that was no longer there.  But then, I wondered why the branch had not been removed along with the rest of the tree and instead was left to hang in the fence.

I stepped closer, and the answer became clear.

The branch had not grown through the fence, but rather had engulfed that bar like an amoeba, incorporating it into itself, and continued to grow.  Why was it allowed to grow that way? -- it must have taken many years for it to happen!  Was it simply neglected until the branch grew so far out over the sidewalk as to create a possible hazard to tall pedestrians, or at least a bothersome obstacle, by which time it was too late to remove it from the fence without undue effort?

Moon Over Pine Tree

 

Moon In Tree

 

My Eye Of Hope

so, so wanted it to be true, even though I of course knew it was impossible -- that twig did NOT really penetrate or grow through the tree trunk;  it's just a visual illusion.  But still, compared to the hypothetical scenario of a billion monkeys randomly typing away on a billion typewriters for billions of years accidentally typing out the entirety of Shakespeare's Hamlet, I'd say a twig going through a tree trunk is a cinch.

Head Of A Baying Dog

That is, a stump that looks like one.

One In Every Class

That one clown that just has to stand out from the bunch.

Be it a curly tree in a parkful of arrow-straight trees

or a Baba Yaga house in a neighborhood full of plumbline-straight homes^

Tree Blowing Off Steam

It must really have been irked beyond endurance.

I Think A Dryad Lives In This Tree

It was giving me the side-eye as I walked by.

A Menace To Aviation

 

Maybe I'll Call This

the "Argus Tree".

[Argus Panoptes ("Argus, the all-eyes") was a giant with many eyes (a hundred of them, in some versions) in Greek mythology;  he was the ideal guard, able to see in all directions and only some of the eyes closing to sleep at any time;  however, after he was set to watch Io, one of philandering Zeus' many loves (disguised by Zeus as a heifer), by a jealous Hera, Zeus sent Hermes to lull him to sleep with a long boring story (or a sweet song, depending on who you read), and once all of Argus' eyes closed, Hermes hacked off his head]

Related post:  "I've Got More Eyes Than You--"

Another Rude Tree

 

Related post:  A Rude Interlude

Night In Day

Or was it Day In Night...

Soluna?  Lunasol?

I don't remember.

 

Related post:  Soluna

Snagged

 

Where Heaven And Earth Touch II

 

Related post:  Where Heaven And Earth Touch

"Heart Tree", Or "Tree Heart"?

This is an old photo.  When I came across it I was fairly certain it must have been posted here -- it's such an obvious candidate;  but when I searched under the keyword "heart" just to make sure, it didn't turn up, so I guess it's one of those images that I somehow never got around to posting.  So here it is now.  And congratulations to whomever painted the heart -- I love you for doing it.

Odd Loner

This one and only floret blooming on the entire tree.

"Neighborhood Guardian"

That's what some people call this big old ginkgo tree, estimated to be in the neighborhood of five and a half centuries in age, in Hoehyeon-dong.  At the time I discovered it I didn't know it, but an online search turned up the legend that a wish made at the site will come true.  Maybe some day I'll go back and make a wish.

Dryad

I  was struck with wonderment at the sight of this tree, surveying me with its unblinking, intense gaze as if to stare me down.

But it was only after I'd taken the initial shots and walked around it that I realized that this was no ordinary tree -- it was the habitation of a dryad!

In olden days it might well have been -- very likely would have been -- an object of worship, as a guardian spirit of a village perhaps, or maybe a forest god.  Tiger hunters and wild ginseng harvesters would have made small offerings on a makeshift altar, barren wives would have prayed for its blessing.  But today the busy pedestrians passing by with hurried steps pay it nary a glance.  No wonder it's starved for a feeding, waiting with its mouth open.  As I, too, walked away I was left in a wistful mood.

Myths need sustenance, just like mortal humans.

Related post:  "Mandrake Root"