Photo Journal Walk

For my photo journal walk, I decided to walk around my neighborhood, visiting a couple of places that I'd not been to in several years - places that hold good memories for me, or that bring peace, and a contemplative mood.
My first stop was to a grove of old trees about a half mile from my house. These aren't just any trees, but are special for many reasons: one, their type. They are a very VERY rare species of tree, named pacific yew. There are very few of these trees left in suburbia today, and that brings me to my second point. These trees are old. While they are only about 25 feet tall, they are gnarly and twisted, with knots, protrusions and little needles waving everywhere. I counted the rings on a piece that I once cut, and realized - with a shock, that these trees predate the settlement of the Seattle area by white people. Over 250 years! While I'm in this grove, time seems to melt away, and I'm transported back to before this area was ever touched by a human's eyes, or trampled under their foot's passing, a time of wild, primordial, untouched beauty.
My next waypoint was a huge clump of bamboo, numbering over 5,000 shoots in total, and the site holds many of my childhood memories. As it were, this species of bamboo is not native to the United States, but to Japan, where it is considered a sacred species. In this veritable forest of bamboo, I'm brought to another world, strange, and alien to me - that of the eastern half of the world, someplace I would like to visit.
Visiting these two sites, I felt like I was home. I feel more in touch with God when I'm in the natural world, enjoying its beauty, and someday, my dream is to live out in it, savoring God's creation.
I thoroughly enjoyed this trip down memory lane, and hope you did as well. In this time of ever-changing realities and uncertain certainties, it's comforting to have something familiar to cling to, even if its just for a little while!