Ficus

I normally rail against the ubiquitous ficus trees of L.A., but the branches of this one are exemplary.

Trees

For Christmas, I received a copy of Bernd Heinrich's book, The Trees in my Forest, in which he describes the details of his forest ecosystem.  The detail employed requires observation skills far beyond my own, but his ability to sit atop a tree and sketch the surrounding treetops each season, noting all the subtle changes, exhibits a youthful curiosity we all have buried.  Perhaps that curiosity is tempered by the wise processing of what the observations actually mean, something I'm still working on grasping. 

Woodcut prints above by Bryan Nash Gill.

Carlos '91

The 90s were rough on a lot of things, but these poor ficus in downtown LA really bore the brunt.   That being said, I like how this row of trees on Hope Street has turned into a decades old record of passers by.