What Once Was

This is a shot of palm trunks on Egmont Key. At the far end of this deserted island is a forest of dead leafless Palm trunks on the beach. It’s an unusual sight, I’m not sure what happened, but there they are, poking out of the sand, remnants of a past event.

What Once Was
These stumps are a remnant of what once was a forest of palm trees on the beach.

Perhaps it was a hurricane, about ten years ago we had several. I know of another place along a different beach with a bunch of dead tree trunks from past hurricanes, it’s a little erie and beautiful at the same time.

more from the beach gallery

As I write this the there are massive forest fires in Canada and I was thinking how they are similar to hurricanes. Hurricanes destroy almost everything in their paths and the scars on the land and communities remain years later. The force of wind from a hurricane defoliates everything in its path leaving the land bare and exposed. Eventually new growth takes hold and the cycle begins again. While it’s little consolation to anyone in the path of forest fires, eventually the land will regenerate in a similar manner.

Anyway, I think the trunks, while a reminder of a past event, have a beauty all their own.