Seeing The Trees for the Forest is Nice

We must have a love affair with trees in Nova Scotia. Some say that when you can't see the trees for the forest it's a bad thing. I'm afraid I have to disagree in this case. In the autumn, you can seriously see the trees for the forest...they're those glowing red, yellow and auburn maples and oaks so brilliantly backdropped by a curtain of tall pines and spruce. In spring it is the bursting vibrant green of maples, oaks, beeches and more again highlighted by those kindly evergreens.

In summer they offer cool shade from the summer heat. In winter a great chance to climb high in their embracing arms where you can leap into a deep pile of snow and laugh. In any time of year, they offer a rolling vista from the highways, sometimes with stunning layers of fog and sunlight, making the distant hills seem to roll mysteriously in the distance, ever beckoning you forward to new discoveries.

You can climb some amazing trees and gaze across the ocean or a deep lake and drift into pleasant and sweet memories of childhood. You can attach a mighty truck tire and feel the thrill of the peeling laughter of children as they swing madly. Or in some places you can take a running leap, grab a rope attached to a pine hanging wildly over a cliff and drop into a cool, clean fresh water lake in the depths of summer.

I guess for these and many more reasons, it's why I like seeing the trees for the forest around here.

What about you?

(Photo Credit: Archer10 Dennis on Flickr)

The Symphonic Sounds of Winter

Winter. A word that sends shivers down the spine and the eyes to burning embers at the thought of shoveling. Perhaps so. As opposed to the other seasons it represents challenges of getting to work, driving accidents in storms, sudden freezes and thaws with black ice.

Yet there is one aspect to winters here (and most parts of Canada I'll admit) that I treasure every year as it is the equivalent of a basso note popping in a symphony - snapping sap. Should you stand outside in the quiet of the night when the temperatures crash to the chilling wee hours of the night, listen to the trees. A slight breeze will bring them on...snap! pop! thunk!

As the temperature falls, so the moisture, usually sap, freezes under the bark. as the tree moves gently to the breeze or the moisture burst under pressure of the bark, the tree snaps! In a small wood or the forest that surrounds you, as the moon rides high and the stars glitter like an audience in heaven, the snapping trees add a light hearted pop to the cool, deep nights.

It is one of natures many symphonies that draws me to Nova Scotia.