I was on my way back home from the Hobbytown yesterday afternoon, picking up supplies for my current scratch-building project. The weather was overcast and rainy, and fog had already started to settle in from the lake.
As I was driving down a divided street - i.e. divided by a green median - through the mist I could see the emerging silhouettes of the trees coming towards me. Since the leaves were off the trees at this time of year, it made for an incredible and fascinating study of how trees grow in nature. Some were very symmetrical in shape; others were anything but that.
With a mixture of maple, cherry, and oak in our area, it was far cry from any of the armatures that you get from Woodland scenics. (Guess I’m going to have to start learning to make my own now.)
Anyway, I thought I’d share that with you all, as it made the trip home a little more intriguing than usual.
Tom, when I read the title of your thread, I thought…“this out to be interesting”. I was prepared to read about the long cold winter days that allowed us the time to be inside toasty warm, working on our layouts or running trains, without the warmer climate distractions of 80F, too nice to be inside, so very little model railroading gets done. You have to cut the grass, or do other things that a warmer climate allows.
However, you threw a curve ball Tom!!! And a very interesting and perceptive one. I don’t know if I would have the patience to build my own more realistic trees, because I like to RUN TRAINS as opposed to building trees. I would rather send a picture to the manufacturers, like WS et al, and tell them to " get on the stick" ( no pun intended here) and design more realistic trees, or at least in a kit form that won’t take us three weeks to construct one doggone pine or oak tree. Hey, I will be 68 in 14 days, I may not have enough years left to build a forest…LOL
Good for you, Tom, you karpayed the deeyem. Ever wonder if you would have missed this opportunity if you had not been a modeller? As I have stated in earlier posts, I see much more now than when I was simply a soldier…and soldiers are taught to be observant. At least, the ones who ride in tanks are. Tanks are big and slow-moving invitations to fire a $2000 round at a $2M vehicle. I digress…that is a very nice photo.
I live in a cold climate(Minnesota) and most of my ‘snow days’ are spent blowing out the driveway, and then working from home(via the cable modem connection). However, the cold nights makes one ‘stay’ home and do something like work on the railroad.
Speaking of observation, the high-ball made it to the avatar I see.
Trees look spectacular in their dormant state. I would hate to live in a part of the world that did not have real seasons. Winter is one of my very favorite times of the year. The bleak open fields of Illinois are majestic in their own way.
