I was up on the second floor, to the right. It was my third tree of the day, but I stayed here for the longest as it was so comfortable to be curled up in a willowy embrace.
Tree number two had fallen. the root base stood six feet up and from there you could step down onto the trunk and then walk along it through upsprouting branches!
It looked as though, when the water was higher - some four feet higher judging by the water marks on the trees, a pair of swans had nested on the top of the root. There were broken fragments of shell.
Tree number one had fallen across the water. As I sat there, I considered which of my belongings it would be worst to drop.
Then, I let go of worries and meditated on the beauty of the water.
I had ducked off the path into this waterside seclusion because, well, just because... And it was worth the rule-breaking. All the strange shapes...
It was akin to an alternate reality.
I found an astonishingly beautiful shell... only to discover it had hidden horrors...
And I saw what I hoped were otter prints. Probably foxes.
Mischa said, when I told her about the dead otter, "Huh! I bet it was one of ours." And I remembered seeing the otter one lovely day in early summer.
When I left, I looked back at where I had been. The six cygnets hatched by Mischa's moth trap... there is consolation in them making it this far.
Lovely peaceful willow and water place. Was that a leach? How were the cygnets hatched??