Thematic Photographic - Let treedom ring

Thematic Photographic" - Carmi at the blog Written, Inc. presents a weekly themed photographic challenge. This week's theme is "Let treedom ring" - which as Carmi says, encourages us to explore trees and themes of spring.

At the end of our road, a private driveway leads up the hill. At the base of the driveway, there's chunk of tree.

It's dried and seasoned. The bark has been removed, and the aged wood beneath is silvery grey.


When I came close, I thought for a moment that it had been carved by some kind of mechanical tool, like a router or Dremel tool, in an intricate yet mysterious graphic pattern, curled and curving into figures, maps, scrolls, lines.....

But no, no human hand was behind these arts. These figures were created by some kind of insect - colonies of insects, probably - I don't know what - burrowing and tunneling in the wood for years and years back when it was alive.

And you can see the holes made by woodpeckers that preyed on those insects, too.

This corner has seen some other interesting ornaments. You'll see more.