Haiku Tuesday: Cypress Knees

I have a fondness for cypress trees. They aren't my all time favorite tree, but they are definitely in the top 5. For me, they are part of home. They are the tree equivalent of Emeril Lagasse's "kicking it up a notch," taking "just a lake" and making it an adventure. They feel prehistoric and can give character

to any body of water, especially when they have their buddy, Spanish moss, hanging out in the limbs.

Friendship Garden's Tea House

When I visited Phoenix, I went to a bonsai exhibit at the Japanese Friendship Garden. The exhibit was great, and I really enjoyed my trip to the garden.
A few of the bonsai on display were different kinds of cypress trees. I asked one of the gentlemen if the bonsai version ever grew knees. He didn't know what I was talking about. We finally understood one another, and he said he'd never seen one with knees other than in pictures.  I had never really thought about it and had taken for granted that cypress trees were the same everywhere. When I thought it more, I realized I had seen some growing around Fayetteville that didn't have knees.

When I got home, I researched it. Growing up, I had always thought cypress knees were to help the tree get air. I never questioned that and never really thought about it. When I researched it, I found that a study was conducted measuring the air exchange in air only around the knees. It was minimal. No evidence has been found that the knees help support the tree, as in the case of mango trees. The general conclusion is that cypress trees are a mystery. I'm sure there are many more studies, and I intend to read through some more.

Yesterday, Boudreaux and I walked down to the lake to catch the last bit of sunset. There's a neat spot behind the campground across the road from my house where you can walk to the edge of the water. I like to walk down there when there aren't any campers (or mosquitoes!). I took a couple of pictures and started thinking about today's haiku on the walk back to the house.

Knees that can never
bend but stretch from below for
mystery alone

Why do you think cypress trees have knees?

Travel & Trails

Mom and I went on a trip together. We didn't do the things we planned, but we had a great time.

We picked Ha Ha Tonka State Park because we wanted to see the "castle" ruins. The story of the ruins is pretty cool, though a little bit sad. There is a .4 mile mostly paved trail that goes out to it. You can't go into it or climb on it, but it's neat to walk around and peak through the windows. I wonder if the area would've became a park if the house hadn't burned.

Apparently, Ha Ha Tonka is also home to the 12th largest spring in Missouri. They sprang that on us (haha..see what I did there&  there?) when we stopped in the visitor center. I'm a sucker for visitor centers and I really wanted a Ha Ha Tonka State Park shirt. They only had one shirt that said Ha Ha Tonka, and it didn't come in my size. Apparently Missouri is doing "The Year of the Trail," including a neat challenge issued by the governor to travel 100 miles of trail. That's awesome, cause that's my goal for the year, too! So I bought a hiking medallion for it. I also bought a Ha Ha Tonka medallion.


We planned a backpacking trip on Turkey Penn Hollow trail. We loaded up our packs and headed off on the supposedly 6.5 mile trail. We hadn't been hiking long when it started storming. Around mile 5.5, when we discovered the backpacking camp was after that marker, we decided to go on and hike out. We thought it was only 6.5 miles. Turns out, the mileage doesn't start at the parking lot. The Turkey Penn Hollow trail starts & ends partially down another trail, making the mileage for it a little over 7.5 miles.

Mom says it still counts as backpacking because we did the whole thing with our packs on. :)

Not staying on the trail for the night gave us an extra day on our trip. We went to the George Washington Carver Monument National Park.