Art

I love this time of year.  The sun is up before 5:30 and the bone-crushing cold of winter is gone, gone, gone! On  a good day, I get up with the sun and take the dog for a nice long morning walk.  The other day, while I was on my way back from my walk, I passed a tree that looked a little unusual.  I was about 10 steps past the tree when I started wondering if I should have taken a picture of it, and by the time I finished having that conversation with myself (it takes a while sometimes), I was far enough away that I was too embarrassed to turn around and become the neighborhood's crazy picture taking lady. On Friday, I was mentally prepared to take the picture, and I had my iPhone/camera ready too:




Do you see what I see?

Here is a closeup:




What am I to make of this cryptic notation?  Is it a name tag ("Hi, my name is Art")?  Is it a signature ("Art was here and he cut a really big branch off this tree")?  A brand ("Art's tree; keep off")? Or maybe a helpful label ("Here is some Art") to assist those of us who wouldn't know Art if it fell on our houses (kind of like Fashion Jewelry-- in case you were wondering about the most recent bit of crappage that your daughter just had to buy at the mall-- or my long-time favorite, Pasteurized Processed Cheese Food, 'cause we weren't really sure what to do with all those little orange squares in plastic wrap)?

Anyway, I like it.  It's comforting to know that it's there and that this tree has some individualistic tendencies. I just wish I knew what it all meant.