online: 22 january 2007
modified: 21 january 2007

21 january 2007 fallen trees


14:06: tumulus... as i walked here i stopped to examine three fallen trees, blown down, i suppose, in the storm two days ago... two had grown soft and had snapped off just above the root and one had snapped about 3 metres above ground... i was surprised to see that branches about 20 to 30cm in diameter had also snapped when they hit the ground (perhaps with the weight of the falling tree behind them)... it's hard to envisage the large forces exerted by the wind (this storm was described as a hurricane)... and the huge energy of a falling tree and the strength of roots in the ground to resist these forces... but now the storm is over and i am enjoying the lesser breeze and gusts as i sit at the tumulus this sunny afternoon beneath blue sky and fluffy clouds moving quite quickly... the air is dry and the ground has ceased to be muddy and slippery...

...as i walked away i realised that the physical effort of coming here this afternoon (despite feeling tired and unenthusiastic) and the perceptual effort of inspecting and describing the fallen trees, has re-energised me... and now i feel up to walking further than i intended and am surprised to find myself completing this diary entry...





(these pages are designed to be read with the window set to two-thirds of the screen width)

what's new

atlas

homepage

daffodil email newsletter

© 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 john chris jones

You may transmit this text to anyone for any non-commercial purpose if you include the copyright line and this notice and if you respect the copyright of quotations.

If you wish to reproduce any of this text commercially please send a copyright permission request to jcj at publicwriting.net