Leaves

Today my dad, bro, and I went to Castle Rock along the Skyline Blvd. There weren't too many people hiking today, so it was easy for us to proceed at our own pace.

There were these funny-shaped leaves all over the place so I asked my dad what kind they were. I was so ashamed to find out they were oak leaves!! Shouldnt' I know these to come from oak trees? Anybody, botanists or not, would know what oak leaves look like right? hmmph! I've heard about oaks, birch, cedar trees all the time but I never care what they look like or how they are different from one another. So I looked them up.




















Oak's "spiraled" leaves and acorns.















Birch tree barks.
so I guess oak, birch, and maples are the three biggest tree families that make up deciduous forrests. It's funny how the dark marks on these birch barks make the trees look like they've been axed many times!













Birch trees and leaves.

Redwood v. Pine leaves:





















Redwood leaves. Compared to pine counterparts, the redwood leaves seem somewhat more flat and friendly.

















Pine leaves. These leaves are pointy and grow in all directions. Wiki says that although the leaves seem to grow in rings on the branches, they actually grow in very tight spirals.

Speaking of trees I thought of this small wooden bowl that I'd turned on a lathe last year. I gave it to my mom in one occasion but it broke into two pieces when my mom soaked the bowl in water. Luckily I did take a picture of my bowl before its unfortunate end.

I started out with cherry and redwood that I laminated together before turning. I was never quite sure what these wood pieces were actually because I picked them up from Minton's scrap section.

I really liked how the cherry wood at the top came out so nicely.