Do not be fooled by this faerie-glamour! In passing, you might think you are just seeing an old dead tree that has fallen long ago. But how many trees are shaped like this? Think about it. No, what you are seeing is a Woods Dragon. I may have told you about them a year or so ago, but I haven’t seen one since. I thought I was in the clear. Until today.
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| A sleeping woods dragon. |
You can see the flexible spine, curling much as a snake
might. What tree does this? And can you see the spiky armor jutting out
from its metallic-like skin? I know of
no trees that look like this, at least not in this era. A few thousand years back, maybe, but that’s
another story for another time.
I found this one fast asleep in the dappled shade of old
oaks and pines. I tiptoed by as quietly
as possible. It doesn’t do well to wake
a sleeping dragon, as anyone can tell you.
They have such short tempers, after all.
I suppose I would too if I were covered with razor-sharp spikes. Just getting into a comfortable position for
a nap could easily take a year.
But you know what they say:
Where there’s a dragon, there’s a treasure. It’ll be my job over the next few months to
scour the area in search of the treasure.
A quick preliminary look produced delicate Lady Slipper flowers (which I
shall document more as the days go on) as well as Painted Lady flowers. Both are endangered, with some of the Lady
Slippers being protected by law and punishable as a felony if picked.
Both flowers are treasures in and of themselves. I might have known I’d find them there. Dragons love to hoard beautiful flowers. I wonder what else I will find as the months
go on. The pursuit of Maine continues . . .
