It's a shame that when I discovered, by crawling about in a scrubby patch by a stream, something that I was sure could be a slime mold, that I failed to put the sample in my bag.
Instead, I brought home something from here...
...that may or may not have been moldy.
Why did I fail to collect either of these?
Anyway, Stephan had also said to me that should another tree call me, I should heed the call.
This young oak did.
I think she's about 75. I don't know why I gender all trees feminine. Well, not the veteran oaks... all this says more about me, obviously, than about them.
The oak's bark is much more rugged than the poplar's. Visually, the difference between the trunk on the north side - moss, then coppery colour - and south side - green - was really noticeable.
But what really stood out for me about this tree was the way her branches have responded to her environment. They tend west, where there is much more light. Another oak, smaller and straighter, stands to her east and she has moved the growth of her branches away from that tree. A hawthorn has grown inside one large branch that heads west, then north up the track - on the other side of the track is a tree lined bank.
Thinking about the ecosophical tree, this reminded me that our thoughts and options are always contextual. They will not flourish in certain environments; they may offer support or protection to others.
Then I considered the alchemical tree and wondered what the "philosopher's stone" would be to a tree. And I had the sense that it would be the tree herself. The tree just is the perfect and complex representation of all that is possible for her in the place and time where she finds herself.
It must be Slime Mold season! I like your example of how context is for humans. But if I've got this right - a tree is more simply and perfectly a tree 🌳. Cool. And I liked your observations of the oak.