What is the relevance of this?? Well, I started out looking for a link to the famous Gilbert & Sullivan number...
but instead found this clip, which so much more precisely epitomizes the astonishment and incredulity that I felt when I discovered this absurdly incongruous flower outside the chicken coop this morning, after a snowy night - so here is the youtube, for amusement!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG2Z5JdpXdtMKoBWjOgzX4bdDjdnoT79o2nwZWgYwrtrCWsT6gMjC5jxZqzNQk6XcVTjBZETYuldav8rP4PDJuUxr8UuK3Y9ehE0joPzb_DkUjUiu7WQhIoBTiQcSp6Gd2YDyEHd9YtOs/s320/buttercup.jpg)
I mean, it is December. Anyway, I stopped by the famous Magic Shop, and had to think about this maple there. How quickly can such rot occur? Have things been decaying for far longer than I suspected? Is there something new-ish going on in the atmosphere, or have we just suddenly and recently surpassed a tipping point, long in the making...or both?
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_kWTUJ8vdi0rXNFkYyhZ55ANYJ1n15gPt7B84D4TblUSQVLBCVS8hsCFJ5EdW2_jiCa5n_Dni0GGriDm4BDwcSRTQVHqKyJQsPQGkI469_-WMcHxxU3vaftKoPxQ01i17ceIK1tMKST8/s320/magicshopmaple12:6.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_kWTUJ8vdi0rXNFkYyhZ55ANYJ1n15gPt7B84D4TblUSQVLBCVS8hsCFJ5EdW2_jiCa5n_Dni0GGriDm4BDwcSRTQVHqKyJQsPQGkI469_-WMcHxxU3vaftKoPxQ01i17ceIK1tMKST8/s320/magicshopmaple12:6.jpg)
After that, I stopped to check out my favorite tree for over 30 years, the gracious and noble copper beech. I was simply horrified to see the trunk.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPtWzPBhXsX4E1AWDN3zBflpAoNC4wAE-lQNHEjTrao1HgKwnx_NSuOjQJT8bWxqzgVTLzWz5muZl-Tw_xoe7_py1uTzmSCfidNUYd9vHyjkDm0OFa4vWeoeCYoHXVUpgH6T7H5_Xnv8/s320/copperbeech12:6hole.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPtWzPBhXsX4E1AWDN3zBflpAoNC4wAE-lQNHEjTrao1HgKwnx_NSuOjQJT8bWxqzgVTLzWz5muZl-Tw_xoe7_py1uTzmSCfidNUYd9vHyjkDm0OFa4vWeoeCYoHXVUpgH6T7H5_Xnv8/s320/copperbeech12:6hole.jpg)
Last summer, the crown was worrisomely thin, but I don't recall seeing any such extreme damage or I think, I would have taken a picture. I love beech trunks, and their thick gnarled roots, that look like the sturdy grey wrinkled legs of elephants.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2zd13Onwt6g9mRjZs3DiCsADTes4h6c4cNBz2O7gYD_JxcKomCa8f8kaMkwg4WFf6zCtDzw1dCQBoHNrvMCXW-yWzrBk3UUe2MN3kZm5sZzdVGKZvYXE-AQr1cEH7vS2D8o2ZU34C1Cg/s320/copperbeechsummer.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2zd13Onwt6g9mRjZs3DiCsADTes4h6c4cNBz2O7gYD_JxcKomCa8f8kaMkwg4WFf6zCtDzw1dCQBoHNrvMCXW-yWzrBk3UUe2MN3kZm5sZzdVGKZvYXE-AQr1cEH7vS2D8o2ZU34C1Cg/s320/copperbeechsummer.jpg)
It was disconcerting that the leaves were being consumed by aphids, insects that thrive in polluted air.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim5V-_xPHMfiFjmwEyVemPekJHZKDoCZ-2LdAGIUfdAUcDofs0SRxEMhlDe4lSuooEh7TgYDc3eTBwlsrN0JO5xEUEyF3lR_FcCopI7I7bRLIeASi4vZyNH8EDvWoYvgj4A9zjqFmrvVc/s320/copperbeechaphids.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim5V-_xPHMfiFjmwEyVemPekJHZKDoCZ-2LdAGIUfdAUcDofs0SRxEMhlDe4lSuooEh7TgYDc3eTBwlsrN0JO5xEUEyF3lR_FcCopI7I7bRLIeASi4vZyNH8EDvWoYvgj4A9zjqFmrvVc/s320/copperbeechaphids.jpg)
Today, it appeared to be weeping. I have speculated before that it's so warm the trees and perennial shrubs don't go dormant, and so when we get a cold snap, like last night, the sap freezes and then expands, cracking bark and oozing out from any breaks.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHCik2JE3YdveiL5IEw2xroU9grNJ3DSM94Yyi_TmP9fy3QBFPzHPhJSR3SqUafwqXwuEapPQo7ER4nboDfyPnrEhj-67eOQ9R95S1xpezqRjL26Eh44CQopfUeupcNyR5DkZGk5RiCb4/s320/copperbeech12:6weeping.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHCik2JE3YdveiL5IEw2xroU9grNJ3DSM94Yyi_TmP9fy3QBFPzHPhJSR3SqUafwqXwuEapPQo7ER4nboDfyPnrEhj-67eOQ9R95S1xpezqRjL26Eh44CQopfUeupcNyR5DkZGk5RiCb4/s320/copperbeech12:6weeping.jpg)
I don't know if that is true and I don't have the capacity to prove anything. All I can say is, things are not right in my beloved little village. Most recently, I have seen more bare earth, muddy spots in lawns, empty banks...and look how bereft of any life it is beneath the beech. Nature abhors a vacuum! So why is so much of the surface occupied by nothing?
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqRL6ecbkVM4HP3eOHlkfbK7MHTAWllyC-LHq3go4KgpmypaiIS14SxRz5qafky28gFQ6T7n0i76n7D-3FFEos30_tcfg85IyXbM0-2SST9pU5WFDWodp5sHqJdkuhUglMz1y9ZzylOI/s320/copperbeechdirt.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqRL6ecbkVM4HP3eOHlkfbK7MHTAWllyC-LHq3go4KgpmypaiIS14SxRz5qafky28gFQ6T7n0i76n7D-3FFEos30_tcfg85IyXbM0-2SST9pU5WFDWodp5sHqJdkuhUglMz1y9ZzylOI/s320/copperbeechdirt.jpg)
I've been slogging through another lengthy survey report on research about effects of biofuel emissions. I realize I'm missing a lot because I'm just not well versed in chemistry. But even so, I have to say the take away message is, as usual, we don't know enough, more study is needed! Here's a link to the pdf for anyone who wants to torture themselves - and if you glean anything more useful than I have, please enlighten me.
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