In the Cool Dunes

In the Cool Dunes

Gifts of the west wind and the glaciers

cool dunes rise above the windy beach.

For thousands of years the dunes

grew tall and then the sand began to sing.

The sand sang of quartz from Wisconsin

and of ice mountains grinding

through, of Lake Michigan currents

and November winds that blew.

Quartz and hematite granules sang

as young girls wove garlands of wildflowers

from the wooded dunes:

bloodroot, Dutchman’s breeches, hepatica,

trillium, violets and Pitcher’s thistle.

They played in dappled shadows under

sassafras, witch hazel and choke cherry trees.

Bewitched, young boys carved their names

beside names of the girls they loved

in the smooth gray bark of beech trees

while silent deer and young wood ducks watched

in the cool dunes.

                                                         --Barbara Spring

excerpt from Sophia's Lost and Found: Poems of Above and Below

Beech Trees

In The Wooded Dunes

In the woods it's easy to see the cycles of life:, fallen trees, new life springing from beech nuts, acorns, maple keys, mature trees such as the beech tree painted here with its deep roots that mirror the upper branches.  I have been watching the growth and the fall of trees in these woods for many years.  The climax forest on sandy dunes could be a metaphor for life.

This year many white mushrooms ringed the trees.  They had been hiding underground for years, just waiting for the right conditions to burst into the open.  Fungi are an important part of the woods' ecosystem along with ferns and wildflowers.  I have not seen wildflowers in these particular woods for many years though. We have many hungry whitetail deer in the area.  That may be the reason.

Beech Trees: Life and Transformation in the Forested Dunes.

The trees in Duncan's Woods are beautiful.  I took this photo yesterday of a beech tree.  But I was sad to see so many fallen trees and large trees that had been cut down.  In the background of the beech you can see many young trees.  Nature has a way of renewing itself.

The wooded park in the center of Grand Haven is not the way it used to be.  I know that nothing stays the same.  I used to take Girl Scouts for nature walks in these woods so they might learn to appreciate them.  They took great delight in stomping on  mushrooms they called earth stars.  A puff of spores would escape into the air and then the leathery star shaped fungus would appear. I gave them lists of things to find such as acorns, pine needles etc.

 Some of these trees attract wildlife.  I have seen owls, pileated woodpeckers, warblers and other beautiful birds here and heard their haunting songs.