Every piece of nature, even the smallest bit, has a history. Usually, we don’t know that history, don’t care about that history, don’t waste our time with the minutia of nature’s little bits. I can relate to that. But because I was there, I know a small portion of the history of the bent little tree in the foreground sunlight of this photograph.

An early morning drive to the park, and I've left my car, grabbed my camera and set off down the paved path that skirts the outer edge of Lake Conestee Nature Park in SC. It's a bright and sunny day. On my right are lake remnants, more like a large pond now, partially overgrown with water weeds as the collecting silt rises near the water's surface. A variety of small birds populate the trees along the bank, with herons and ducks and geese foraging out on the water.

On a fairly uneventful day, but a lovely and peaceful spring morning otherwise, I had spent around 2 hours on the trails, taking in the quiet, breathing in the fresh morning air, looking at all the greenery of nature's warm weather bounty.