Morning In Lichenopolis

Day 187: Backlit by early morning light, the structure of a tassel of lichen is revealed in all its fractal glory where it hangs from a budding branch of vine maple. These mysterious life-forms (a symbiosis of algae and fungus) are common in the Pacific Northwest to the point that no one gives them a second glance. The brush line which divides the pasture from the road is lined with lichen-covered shrubbery which, from a distance, resembles nothing more than tattered, pale green dishrags caught among the branches by the hundred. Yet seen up close, each plant is a garden in its own right, a microcosmic forest of an alien world. It is a magical place, Lichenopolis, when it is alive with diamonds of dew and soft morning light, a place of wonder in my own back yard.