Sycamore

I love this massive sycamore tree. It might be the biggest one in town . . . maybe in the state. It would take at least three people holding hands (maybe four) to completely encircle it. Photographing it was difficult because there's a telephone pole right next to it and street signs, etc. This second shot was cropped to remove the telephone pole. I've been intending to photograph this tree for days -- if not weeks. I wanted to be sure to shoot it before all the leaves arrive. The whiteness of the branches against the blue sky are truly grand.
This Wikipedia entry says sycamore is also called Buttonwood and, the reason this bark look like smooth snowy-white skin is that unlike other trees, sycamore bark does not expand as the tree expands; instead, the bark falls off.
Whenever I look up at a large tree like this, I end up losing my balance. Today, I just lay down on the grass (we finally have grass!) and enjoyed! When I took the shot at the top of this entry, I was leaning against the trunk. It felt so solid and I thought about the nutrients that travel from deep in the ground, through the root system, into the trunk, and far overhead into the branches and their leaf buds. Soon, soon, those buds will be sprouting.