Peggy spotted this marvelous fenced in tree root dragon across a cove at Shore Acres Park near Coos Bay, Oregon. Naturally we had to go check it out. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)
I love trees– everything about them: their size, shape, smell, color, fruit, cones, nuts, needles, leaves, limbs, and bark. I have as many pictures of them as Peggy has of the grandkids, and that’s saying a lot. I even love dead trees, the ones that have passed on to the Great Forest in the sky. Along with other woody things, they may be the only members of the organic world that are as beautiful in death as they are in life.
What better way to frame a photo than a twisted tree limb. Peggy took this photo of me at Sunset Bay State Park on the Oregon Coast.
Unless you are down among the mangroves of more tropical climates, however, roots tend to hide out. They do their work underground. The exception, of course, is when a tree falls over. I had never realized how truly wild and wonderful roots might be until our trip to Sunset State Park on the coast near Coos Bay Oregon. And I wasn’t alone. Peggy spotted the dragon before I did.
Following are some of the fun wood sculptures we discovered.
A closer look at the dragon-tree roots.
The Dragon Lady Peggy provides a perspective on the size of the roots.
I call this the dark side of the dragon.
I couldn’t see any animals in these roots but I liked the way they shot off in all directions and seemed to end in the green pine needles..
Peggy liked the horns on this fellow at Sunset Bay State Park. I thought he was rather twisted and dubbed him Bum Steer.
My model provides a human perspective on the size of Bum Steer. Maybe his brother was Paul Bunyan’s blue ox Babe. PS… if I have my anatomy right, this guy has a really weird tail.
The grain of the wood on Bum Steer caught my attention for the beautiful way it flows.
No animals here… just a striking set of roots on the beach at Sunset Bay State Park. I liked the backdrop of sand, grass and trees. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)
These are the same finger-like roots seen above but from a different perspective. Note the tree trunk heading off to the left. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)
A final shot: Peggy and her Oregonian roots.
NEXT BLOG: We find whales, a beaver wanders into camp, and I climb a cliff… against Peggy’s better judgement.
