Stringing You Along

This week's PhotoHunt theme is string(s).

I could find a couple of things around the pond that would qualify, but I happened across this and decided it just might fit.

Now you have to admit this looks a lot like thick string hanging in a rather unkempt manner. Well at least that is what it always looks like to me.

But as you can probably guess it is not actually string. These are the long, string-like tendrils hanging from vines that grow all along the stream that runs near the pond.


I'm not sure what type of vines these happen to be. They are relatively thick and very old. They have had this same ancient appearance for over 20 years so I would think they could have easily been around for 40-50 years or perhaps even more.

Over the years we have taken out a lot of the vines that grow too thick and eventually choke the life out of some of the larger trees. We took special care, however, to leave some of these older vines that added so much to the character of the stream. Some of the tendrils are over 10 feet long and at places they create a curtain of sorts across the stream bed or nearby trails.

By day they are an interesting addition to the stream, but by night they can give the stream a certain haunting feeling, especially during the late fall and winter when the trees have lost their leaves and you can see the long, hanging tendrils swaying in the wind on a moonlit night.