Barking up Different Trees

All of a sudden, I'm noticing trees.

Well, specifically, the different patterns, textures, and colors of the trunks.

They don't have to compete for attention with any leaves yet.

"As the poet said, "only God can make a tree" - probably because it's so hard to figure out how to get the bark on."  ~Woody Allen

I have to confess, I have no idea what most of these are.

Could the one above be some type of birch?

Look at the blues and greens in this one.

Does it remind you of a globe, like it does me?

I think the pattern looks good in black and white, too.

It especially shows off that large crack.

I'll call the next set "The Many Faces of Juniper"

We just call them Cedar Trees around here, though.

Some have these white stripes. 

I have no idea why!

Some contort into different shapes.

Old and weathered, yet stubbornly standing.

The oaks are just as stubborn...

...and have just as many faces.

Odd, isn't it?

A secret hiding place for something!

Baby trees near the creek... a good sign for the future!

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

~Joyce Kilmer, "Trees," 1914