Cottonwood Pond: Ghosts

Ghosts

November 21, 2017

(with photos at end from November 25 and 29)

I am not yet ready to declare “the death of Cottonwood Pond.” Its existence has not been truly tested – not until we have more seasons of snow melt and heavy downpours. Not until the “pond” becomes so filled that its bottom surface is almost level with the surrounding land. Not until I no longer see aquatic snails, water beetles, tadpoles, frogs.

And if it's not “dead” yet, it can't have a “ghost.”

The photos I took on my November 21^st visit sometimes exhibited amorphous, misty whitish areas floating within the scene.

They could have been caused by “lens flares,” from the intense sunlight of that day hitting the camera lens (and me not knowing how to compensate for that,) or it could have been caused by a smudge on my lens that collected and intensified light.

Whatever the case, they looked interesting and I found them symbolic of what had been happening – spirits hovering as omens of the death of Cottonwood Pond, or spirits of positive changes and ever-flowing Life. I prefer the latter.

The bed of fallen leaves in the woodland and at Cottonwood Pond had become thicker, and had lost individual, varietal color, turning yellow-brown, overall. It was more like walking through a giant bowl of corn flake cereal, each flake identical in color and somewhat similar in shape, deep and crunchy (without the milk or sugar.)

An exception: the late-changing Boxelder

Leaves had clogged up any places where water still flowed or gathered.

Creek water

Creek

The Inlet to the main pond

The main “pond” was only a thin crescent of leafy water (like soggy corn flakes.)

Silas drinking from Cottonwood Pond

A "ghost" at "little pond"

A little bit of water visible in "little pond"

Features around the pond that had once seemed stable and solid were on their way to becoming ghosts of themselves.

The Inlet and the rotting Barkless Log

The mycelium of this mushroom, inside the Barkless Log, are helping to break down the wood fibers

The same is true for this purple jelly fungus on the Barkless Log

The Barkless Log begins on the opposite side of the Creek, then spans the Creek and Inlet, skirting the Root Ball. At the Root Ball it divides into and upper and lower limb. This is the lower, rapidly decaying.

The Trunk of the fallen Cottowood tree has been losing bark and supporting other forms of life (besides temporarily supporting Silas, here)

Moss and lichen on the Trunk

The Very Rotten Log, disappearing into the leaves and the ground. It extends from the other side of the Creek (distant) to the Inlet (foreground - not visible) and has lost a section to the pond itself.

The roots of the Cottonwood Root Ball have been gradually exposed, over the years, to the elements and to animal action. Pieces of them have been breaking off and falling.

The work of animals on the roots of the Root Ball Top (this and following photo)

Plants that had flourished from spring through early autumn, full of turgid strength in their stems, succulent leaves and colorful flowers attracting insects, had become composed of brittle, shrunken leaves and the fluffs and husks of late autumn seeds.

A small-leaved Aster

Another type of Aster

White Snakeroot, in the wind

Great Blue Lobelia

An old Wood Nettle plant, gradually being enveloped by the increasing Mud Pile

The flow path from the Swampy Spot (foreground) to the Inlet, through a sea of dead plant stalks

But, the “spirits” of positive changes, of the constant Cycle of Life, were present and at work. Already, young green plants were popping up through the deep, dry leaf layer, promising new Life for next spring and summer. The leaves will protect them from winter cold, snow and ice.