A very peaceful post today, @slowwalker. Trees have a way of cleansing the eye - Green is a restful colour.

It's interesting that people visit ancient temple sites and the thing that intrigues them is not the architecture or the history but the longevity of trees.

We expect inanimate things made from stone to endure, but we are drawn to living things like trees that have survived six centuries and more and are still putting forth leaves.

Life in general is stubborn and persistent but when we see individual examples such as this long-lived tree, we are enchanted with the wonder that it was alive back in the Middle Ages, before Columbus discovered America.

That is why we are fascinated with history and the past - we are drawn to vestiges of aspects of life that have endured - and this is why space exploration is not just landing probes or rovers on barren planets, but the search for life. This is what fascinates and motivates us - not the shells of past cultures or desolate worlds, but the mystery of life and survival itself.

A thought-provoking post, my friend :)