Oak Over the Years

There’s an Oak tree at Lodi Point State Park on Seneca Lake that I love. It sits close to the shore looking northward. After a recent visit at the end of July, I began to wonder how many times I had photographed this tree. I found four photos from over the last five years, one of which I’ve posted on this blog before. From the top left to bottom right, the dates are: August 2020, June 2021, June 2023, and July 2025.

One of the interesting things to me is how the picnic tables move from year to year. My son, Ellis, and our dog are in the last picture from 2025. Ellis was just over two years old at the time of the first photo, and now he’s seven. I often think about the timeframe of a tree in relation to a human life. I can imagine that if trees had consciousness, they might perceive humans scurrying around as we see ants on an endless search for something.