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neverspentThe air here is filled with little, airy tufts of white fluff. It floats on the breeze and when you walk or drive, the way it comes at you, it's like passing through a starfield of cotton. The fluffs are the way the cottonwood tree spreads its seed, and as wind dispersal methods go, it's a particularly effective one, I imagine. (At the link above, scroll down and you can see some of the "cotton" before it is dispersed.)
We've moved due west into Kansas, and the landscape is amazing. It's not nearly as flat as I expected: we passed through a region called the Flint Hills, which consisted of long, rolling hills, deep washes, and even a few butte-shaped rises, all covered with green grass and a few dark trees. In a few hillside pastures we saw what I presume is the reason for the name Flint: medium-sized stones and small boulders scattered thickly over the ground on the grass. Yet we also passed through straight, low stretches where green wheat rippled like perfectly manicured grass. Approaching one of those places, from the elevated slopes above? When you're from the hills full of tall trees, it's hard to imagine that much land and sky can be visible at once. Breathtaking.
I was reminded today of something amazing I saw on the way north, in Missouri. On one of the farms at the side of the road, there was an old grain silo made of concrete blocks. The roof had rotted away, and in the side of the silo there was one vertical strip from top to bottom that was open, no blocks or doors or covering. Coming out the top of the silo, which was probably forty feet high, were the leafy branches of a tree. A very large tree, and as we passed the slit in the side of the silo, I could see the trunk of the tree growing up from the floor of the silo. It grew from inside! Good tree.
We've moved due west into Kansas, and the landscape is amazing. It's not nearly as flat as I expected: we passed through a region called the Flint Hills, which consisted of long, rolling hills, deep washes, and even a few butte-shaped rises, all covered with green grass and a few dark trees. In a few hillside pastures we saw what I presume is the reason for the name Flint: medium-sized stones and small boulders scattered thickly over the ground on the grass. Yet we also passed through straight, low stretches where green wheat rippled like perfectly manicured grass. Approaching one of those places, from the elevated slopes above? When you're from the hills full of tall trees, it's hard to imagine that much land and sky can be visible at once. Breathtaking.
I was reminded today of something amazing I saw on the way north, in Missouri. On one of the farms at the side of the road, there was an old grain silo made of concrete blocks. The roof had rotted away, and in the side of the silo there was one vertical strip from top to bottom that was open, no blocks or doors or covering. Coming out the top of the silo, which was probably forty feet high, were the leafy branches of a tree. A very large tree, and as we passed the slit in the side of the silo, I could see the trunk of the tree growing up from the floor of the silo. It grew from inside! Good tree.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-19 03:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-19 04:11 am (UTC)