This is a place I love to sit – on an ash tree at the edge of Barley Valley woods. One of its two trunks goes upright, but the other, larger one stretches out horizontally and then bends down to the ground before rising up again. Behind me is a path that people walk along, often with their dogs. They don’t usually seem to notice me sitting there in a tree, but the dogs sometimes come to investigate. Below me, the land drops down into the heart of the woods where a small stream flows. In this place at the edge there is so much happening – birds sounding and moving about, butterflies and other insects, light and leaves shifting. The ash feels like an old friend to me now. It has the dieback, but who knows which of us will succumb first. We both live at the edge.
Author: MaryAb
Born in upstate New York. Moved to the UK in 1971. At home in Devon.
