I recently read an article in one of my magazines that arrived - the article was about trees.  Specifically, it was about a forest ranger in Germany who wrote a book about the "Hidden World of Trees".  After a couple of weeks of this single title continuing to come back to me as I walk through our neighborhood with all the large old oak trees - I decided I needed to purchase this book and see what this was all about.  Hence this week's blog post and probably a few more in the future will include photographs showing the beauty of trees.  I'll share little tidbits about this book - I don't think I will ever think of trees in the same way.  They will have a new respect that perhaps we should all have - but for now, let me share.

I asked "What's the difference between woods and forest?" - Do you know?  Don't google it - do you know without asking some one (including technical gadgets!).  "A wood is an area covered in trees, larger than a grove or a copse. A forest is also an area covered in trees, but it is larger than a wood. The trees in woods and forests grow thickly, and the space between them is overgrown with grasses, shrubs and underbrush."  Source: https://sciencing.com/differences-woods-forests-jungles-8377449.html  Of course, if you want to get even more technical about the difference between these words, there are other articles on the internet found with a google search.  This one indicates the difference has more to do with the language the term originated from.  The article states that the English language is a combination of two language branches: Germanic and Italic and the difference in these words is because of that - if you're really interested, here's the link to that article Read more: Differences Between Woods and Forest | Difference Between http://www.differencebetween.net/language/differences-between-woods-and-forest/#ixzz5AhjblK7U

Bottom line is 'Woods' is a group of trees that is smaller than a 'Forest'.  The next google search I performed is to see what "National Forests" exist in Florida - and this returns three forests, Ocala National Forest, Osceola National Forest and Apalachicola National Forest of which I can say I have spent a little time in the Ocala National Forest but I can't say that I have visited the others (perhaps I need to add that to my bucket list).  I have been to a very beautiful place located north of Atlanta called the Big Trees Forest Preserve and this place is beautiful.  I've been here a few times now, never in fall (hopefully sometime soon!) and I love the beauty of it.

I wish we had this kind of trees and stuff here in Florida - but if we do, it's not near the Tampa Bay area! 

Now reading the book about the "Hidden World of Trees" I want to visit places like this more just to be able to visually see things that are discussed in the words on the pages within.  As for places within an hour of us, here's some of the trees (woods) that we have.  This photograph of the large old oak tree with resurrection ferns growing along the big limbs and moss/fungi growing on the trunk in the foreground has it's own beauty.  This tree is part of the The Withlacoochee River Park located in Dade City.  

Coming closer to home, along the Hillsborough River at Wilderness Park are cypress trees growing in a forest like environment.  They have a trail that goes along the water and if the water is low enough, you can cross over to a deck that is nice to watch wildlife.  If the water is high, either wade through or turn back and take another trail to this view.

At Blackwater Hammock Nature Park just about sunrise there are oaks and other trees along the water.  This is on the west side of the Hillsborough River a small park with a few trails - but at this time of day, it's pretty much just you and nature.

That's all the trees for this blog post, look for more in coming weeks!