I’m in love with birch branches. They speak of flexibility, bending and twisting in response to life’s stressors. Tiny dots and dashes line their thin, vulnerable skin. Bark used to pretty up candle holders, hardcover books and even birdhouses. Ice and wind take their toll on birches as they have a breaking point. Some are stretched to a point of no return once the ice and snow melt. Occasionally frozen in the hunched pose they struck under the weight of a storm.
Finding cracked branches on the forest floor…delightful. Mind racing with possibility… pressed/flattened birch bark “canvas” as a backdrop for painting, branches to to arrange in a large floor vase, thin bark as a wrap for home-made soaps, short pieces for log candle holders or hollowed out for a small plant….the home-made fantasies abound.
Immediately I begin to scheme and rationalize bringing ONE MORE “natural” item in from the woods. Full branches with tendrils intact make lovely corner decor. Their smell, sweet and minty. Crack a live birch branch, releasing nature’s best kept secret lollipop. Hey, get your own, this ones taken. I’m in love with birch branches.
A Fish Named Karen 