The scenery along the tracks between Fort Worth and Dallas is often very beautiful. There are wide stretches of undeveloped land thick with trees. Leaves carpet the ground beneath the trees, and vines cover many of the trees like canopies.
In some places, the tracks are high and the ground beneath the trees falls away into shaded valleys. In some places, the tracks are low and layers of limestone and flaky sedimentary rock are exposed beside the tracks, with rivulets eroded into them by the runoff of hard rains.
The train passes a couple of ponds, one surrounded by tall, green cattail grass. There are always ducks in the ponds, and long-legged, long-winged white birds that I'm tempted to call cranes, but I really don't know what they're called.
The variety of leaves and bark always surprises me, and I can only name a few of the trees with any certainty: hackberry, mesquite, bald cypress, post oak, cottonwood, pecan. There are trees with ferny foliage and rough bark, covered in algae. There are scattered pine trees, but not many this far north and west. Some of the vines are honeysuckle, some are wild grape vines and some I cannot name.
I often describe North Texas to people as "not beautiful", and there is truth to that. Seeing this scenery, however, reminds me that this area has a kind of beauty, but it's a humble, unkempt beauty. It is not majestic or grand, like sea cliffs or mountain peaks or redwood forests. It's not the super model of American terrain. It's more like the cute girl who works at the supermarket, or the handsome, Marlboro-Man construction worker.
Have a lovely day, everyone. Tell me something.
Later. Love.
P.S. - I posted a piece on my cogito writing site. It's called Teleological. I like it. It's short. Read it and tell me what you think, unless you don't want to. Thanks for stopping by.
