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Stacey Jenkins's avatar

Thank you for the beautiful pictures and spruce tips recipe! Oregon is full of Douglas fir trees, in early spring the tips come out. If I’m thirsty while walking Honey I pick a tip they are hydrating. Also can make hydrating water by placing a handful in a jar of water overnight.

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SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

So glad you enjoyed it, Stacey! It's so lovely to know where you can reach in nature for a little refreshment and nourishment 💚

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Stacey Jenkins's avatar

Forest bathing is what I call it when I take hikes, today I’m spending time watering the garden we are having a heat wave here! Making cold brew peppermint tea my hot weather go to. 💙

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SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Yes, forest bathing, so lovely! We've just gotten through a string of hot days and are sitting in a little cool rain now. The heat was a little hotter than usual, and the rain is a little cooler than usual for this time of year, but I'll take it :) Sounds like you've locked in the perfect beverage!

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Diana van Eyk's avatar

Thanks for these beautiful pics! I'll be looking at the trees in my life more closely now, Sydney. You've heightened my awareness.

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SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

I'm so happy to hear that, Diana! It's a little easy to forget the trees, but so lovely each time we stop to notice them :)

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Beth T (BethOfAus)'s avatar

So different in Australia. Where I live, the natives are eucalypts, and each other tree has been specifically planted for spring or autumn colour, carefully nurtured to survive our heat and dry. So funny to talk about them now on a bitterly cold, blustery morning where the rose bushes are scraping against the house. It’s lovely to be reminded that this too shall pass and that spring and summer will once again take hold. Sending heaps of hugs and best wishes. 🤗🤗

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SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Thanks so much, Beth! Eucalypts are such a fascinating and diverse group. Wait, you're saying *all* of the other trees are introduced? That's wild to consider. Yes, here we are just easing our way into summertime, flowers blooming, warm sea breeze rising. Reminds me how you were out at the beach for swims when I was writing about snowflakes and icicles 🤣 It's nice to share opposite seasons! Hugs!

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Laura B.'s avatar

The maple trees in my backyard have grown so full and leafy that yesterday, I almost missed two young Northern flickers chasing each other through the branches. How this extra cover must give all the creatures that extra bit of sanctuary there is in anonymity. Thank you for this celebration of trees, Sydney! They certainly do deserve the spotlight.

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SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Such a beautiful time of year, but the birds do get a lot harder to keep track of! So much easier to see those little stinkers when the branches are bare lol.

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Ian Haycroft's avatar

Beautiful as always Sydney. Thank you. I imagine you have read this...but just in case... Merlin Sheldrake's...Entangled Life. An incredible book on the importance and communication network of fungi. So critical to forests.

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SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Thanks so much, Ian! I haven't heard of this book, I'll check it out!

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Teyani Whitman's avatar

Gorgeous photos Sydney.

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SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Thanks so much, Teyani!

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Pickleball's avatar

Such beautiful, peaceful photos. Thanks for sharing

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SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Thank you, Carolyn!

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Pickleball's avatar

Sydney, You show that there still is beauty in the world in spite of all of the ugliness and cruelty.

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SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Yay! I definitely have to remind myself to notice and appreciate it, and sharing helps me, too 💚 I sat at the window this morning, watching a chipmunk run in and out of the sweet woodruff, and it was like bathing my spirit for a moment in all that is still lovely in the world...It really highlighted just how much world events have my heartstrings wound up tight these days!

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Pickleball's avatar

Very well said. We’re all wound up very tightly these days and so need to take the time to notice the beauty of nature, the deliciousness of food, the love of friends, the fun of playing sports. We cannot let the horrid people running this country, that we no longer recognize, take every pleasure away from us. But we must not let our guard down…resist and protest!

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SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

So true, Carolyn, always striving for that balance!

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Noel's avatar

There's a fascinating documentary called "Intelligent Trees", about research into how the California redwoods communicate through their root networks in cooperation with fungi. It's like a biological internet they use to share news of various changes in their environment. They look out for each other! Mind blowing.

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