Exfoliating Bark

A few years ago
I sat under lovely shade trees
in my cousin's side yard.
I admired the trees
and my cousin's husband
asked if I would like one.
I said yes, thinking he was kidding.
Still in his tie from church,
he grabbed a shovel
and dug up a little shoot
that rode in my backseat
back to North Carolina.
That shoot grew into a small tree
as tall as the house.
I was dismayed last week
to see all the bark peeling.
I was sure this meant death.
Turns out, Drake Elm trees
shed their bark in the fall.
"Exfoliating Bark."
It is not a sign of disease,
but a normal rite of passage,
and a thing of beauty.

Misty Morning Spiders

Went out to open the chicken coop
and felt the need to go grab my camera.
The spider webs were so cool
on the garden fence.
Much of the fence
just had diagonals of spider web
here and there
and everywhere,
but some of the webs
were quite involved.
This web intrigued me.
It was between two sections of fence,
very three dimensional in form.
The top was a crosswork of webbing,
with a trampoline-like net
on the bottom.
I went back later in the day
and could see the spider
who built this web,
and the small flies
lying on the netting below,
but could not achieve focus
on the camera
in order to share an image.
I've since learned how to manually focus,
so perhaps next time
I can share.

The New Baby

Having lost the old dogwood tree
that fronted the living room window
and held the bird feeders,
we planted a new baby
that fit in the back seat area
of my little Honda Fit.

Grow, little tree.