Treasures

It’s strange how we can come across treasures in the most unexpected places. I saw this piece of curled bark as you see it below on the gravel drive outside our hairdresser’s house when I was waiting for Steven, I had got out of the car with my camera to search for any Spring flowers I might find in her beautifully kept gardens and spotted it at my feet. I instinctively picked it up and marvelled at the detail and the different tiny forms of lichens that were arranged all over it. I put it in the car to take home with me so it could join my collection of other mosses and lichens. I went in search of flowers but found none and came back and examined the bark more closely. I decided it would be better to put it back on the drive, photograph it and leave it where I had found it. I did so, got back in the car and almost at once I changed my mind and decided to bring it home with me. I knew if I left it there it would be crushed by the wheels of the next car and it would be lost. I also felt that few would appreciate this amazing piece of natural art (at least that was my excuse for ‘liberating’ it from her driveway). Today you can enjoy it too. If you click on the image above or below and then again on it in the gallery you will see the detail enlarged. It’s really worth zooming in so you can see the arrangement of those tiny orange dots and the blue grey colours perfectly, along with the fans of lichen spreading in clumps over it. Isn’t it the most beautiful thing? You see below how it looked as I first saw it.