2025-05-23_field-shrubs

A large field, not really a field but an open space surrounded by forest. The ground is covered in bright green shrubs (heaths) growing new stems due to the passage of time. The soil is dry, it is porous. As it contains a lot of sand, but it does not retain moisture well. There are only a few trees (pines) in the field, and a hill. A network of narrow paths cuts through the areas of shrub. The few trees that do grow grow at a distance to each other, they are spread out, in more than one way. Their branches grow horizontally as well as vertically. Since they don’t have to compete with other trees where they stand, this spreading out of their branches is beneficial for them. It also makes them perfect for climbing. i leave my hiking backpack at the bottom of a short but broad pine and start my ascent. i am not alone, a group of ants makes its way up in a more or less orderly fashion. They’ve been here before me, since they go down as well as up. They carry small pieces of bark, or nothing but their own black bodies. The climbing puts me at ease. Each reach of my hand for a branch, each setting of my foot on another. they are firm, secure, stable. i stop once i get close to the top and the needles start poking my head through my hair. i look around: needles and orange-brown branches. but also pockets of air, lines of sight outside of the assemblage i am currently a part of. along with the ants, and the needles, and the branches, and the trunk. i like looking out into the world from this perspective. from inside an entanglement. it makes me feel real. outside the shrubs move in the whipping wind, unkind in speed but not in temperature. the sand below the shrubs is shielded from certain displacement by their small roots and branches. even though to the sand, to its particles, the shrubs are anything but small. the wind doesn’t mind, it seems happy to blow and move at its pace, unencumbered by additional particles. although they are coming. the sky is grey, it has been for a couple hours now. it starts to rain. the wind looks heavier now, no less vigorous, but more viscous. it’s contours become more visible to my eyes with the rain. fluid mechanics on fluid mechanics. uncomfortable when in contact with my skin, fascinating when in contact with my retinas.