BIRCHES TURN TO ASPENS

 

I was out taking pictures a week ago.  My friends Diana and Don Burton had joined me.

 

 I’d told them about the beautiful birch grove I’d discovered a few days earlier while adventuring onto a seasonal road I hadn’t traveled before.

 

  A narrow two-track beckoned us into the birch stand and I drove in.  Brown ferns swished both sides of my car and tall grass rubbed my Subaru’s underside. 

 

 How beautiful it was!  

 

 Yellow leaves fluttering in the breeze. 

Stunning, white bark on the trees.

 

 Diana got out of the car and examined the leaves and bark of the trees.  She came back with the news that my birch trees were actually Quaking Aspen.  And she would know as a native of Colorado, where aspen are plentiful.

 

 I didn’t even know aspen were native to Michigan but they are, especially in Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.

 

 Aspens trees often have scars on the trunks that look like eyes.  They form when the tree “self prunes” by dropping smaller branches that don’t receive enough sunlight.

 

 Those white bark trees can be tricky to identify, but I was happy to become acquainted with the Quaking Aspen in our area.

Surgery Note:  I will have my left knee replaced next Monday, November 7.  My right knee was replaced in January and it was a huge success so I’m looking forward to having two good knees.  I’ll be having some Guest Photographers for a couple weeks while I recover, but I’ll keep you posted.