Thursday, May 21, 2009

Gnarls & knots

Gnarls and knots. Aren't those wonderful words to say aloud? Can't you just feel them leave your mouth, especially if you enunciate the G and the K in German style. Wonderful just to stare at, too.

Most of the knots and gnarls that I see are weathered to silver.

This huge knot was part of the landscaping when we moved into my present house...

...as are these swirls. It's hard to imagine the live trees that produced such beautiful wood, though I would like to see these patterns in their natural wood color.

The huge oak burl above was formed when a mistletoe took root; this particular specimen is the largest such burl that I have ever seen -- maybe four inches in diameter. As for the tree trunk below, I'll bet that its fibers include knots and gnarls that will be revealed once it dies.

Fungible Link? Our current, unseasonable wet weather reminds me that The Mad Bioneer is currently posting a series on how to grow your own gourmet mushrooms -- and he's doing it right here in Prescott.

4 comments:

Antipodean Curmudgeon said...

There are some interesting patterns in those knarls and gnotts. Nos 5 and 6 resemble fossilised stromatolites and 7 & 8 are reminiscent of the storms on Jupiter(maybe Neptune),

Max is a most fortunate feline.

Hermano

Warren said...

cool patterns! I like the seventh which looks like a starry sky with a close moon to the right.

Lucy said...

Gnarl and knot are so Germanic aren't they?

Amazing patterns, they look so liquid!

Granny J said...

bro -- I did notice that resemblance to the big storms on Jupiter. Just goes to show how forms in nature repeat themselves.

warren -- I'll buy that...

lucy -- the problem with those patterns is that they are so seductive to the photographer in me; I want to keep taking pictures of them, perhaps as a way to hold them in my hands, figuratively.

 
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