Contrast

  It is funny how here on the Bayou, a few of the trees have decided that it is now fall.  Our weather is not like December weather in the rest of the country.  Here it is the very last of November and it is hot!  The tree in question is a Popcorn Tree or Chinese Tallow Tree.  It is one of those non-native, invasive species of trees that pop up everywhere once one is brought into the area. One seed is all it takes to flood the whole community with unwanted trees.  The Bayou is no exception.  If I stand far out on the end of the pier, I am awarded a nice view of the meandering waterway and marshes that make up our small Bayou.  What used to be lined with Black Gum, Tulip Poplar, Cyprus, Sycamore and Pine Trees is now mostly filled with the Tallow Trees.  The hurricanes have taken their toll on our poor woods and left behind mostly undesirable trees.  Still, the Tallow trees do have one nice asset.  The leaves do give us a bit of fall color even if it is well into November and December.

  While I stood admiring the bit of beauty made available to us by invasive trees, an added bit of interest caught my eye.  An egret had come to rest on the tip of a dead tree.  The white bird was beautiful enough on its own but against the background of reds and oranges, it was purely breathtaking.  The bit of contrast of white on red was gorgeous!  The whole thing was "picture-perfect".  I have a new found respect for the Chinese Tallow Trees merely because of the bit of flair that they added to the view.  

  I am sure that eventually the larger trees will overtake the small Tallow Trees and swamp them out once again.  In the meantime, I pondered the contrast of not only the white bird against a backdrop of red leaves but the contrast of a native Bayou bird against the invasive trees and the dead Tulip Poplar Tree against the healthy Chinese Tallow Trees.  It seems as if life, itself, is contrast...