What the photos don't show is the mystery of the day: the reflection of the sun on the needles. If you inspect a new-fallen clump of loblolly pine needles at close range, they are not shiny. They are many things---blithe, slender, dull green, blade-like, brush-like, smooth or sticky depending on which way you stroke them, dry and calloused to the touch, unique by any standard---and lovely---but they are not shiny.
How is it then, that the direct sun on the high pine canopy shimmers and sparkles along every needle it touches---with an iridescence that defies description in a million instances? Visible with the eye, but not with a camera, this phenomenon lends yet another opportunity to reflect on the transcendent mystery in the beauty of light. dkm
2 comments:
I find myself saying the word over and over - loblolly, loblolly - sort of rolling it around in my mouth!!
Beautiful bark!!
---because you are a writer and lover of language---which is also why I enjoy your blog---
The word is fun to say, isn't it---even looks pretty in written form---
In the dictionaries I consulted, it is defined as a mudhole, a muddy puddle, and a marshy patch of ground. But why it is applied to our Georgia pines, I don't know, since they grow in dry hard clay soil---and when we have too much rain, they are notorious for falling over.
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