The Great Sycamore at Centre Furnace Mansion

Back in March, I visited Centre Furnace Mansion and photographed the historic sycamore tree that sits on the hill just above the mansion. Just for fun, I framed the tree through an arbor in one of the many pretty little gardens.

On this morning, I woke up, and the light was good, and I suddenly decided it was time to go and visit the huge sycamore once again, and photograph it in the morning light. And so I did just that. (Isn't it funny how simply sometimes we can make our own dreams come true? Just: decide, and then: DO IT!)

The light was really lovely, very direct and golden. It is shaping up to be a hot and humid week (as is almost always the case for the week of our local Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts), but in the morning, it wasn't uncomfortable yet. I walked around photographing the tree from every angle and checked out several of the pretty little gardens that are strewn all around the property.

This time, I decided to photograph the sycamore framed through the gazebo that sits on the hill nearby. Ferns gave me a nice, textured green base for my shot. To the left is the mansion. And there in the center of things, dappled in morning light, stands the tree itself, with its arms outstretched, holding up the sky.

The sycamore tree itself was born in the early 1700s and stands more than 100 feet tall, with a circumference of more than 18 feet around. For the purists who don't care about framing, and who might rather have "pure tree," unframed, you may enjoy the photo of sunlight through the ancient sycamore that I've placed in the extras. Long live the great tree!

The soundtrack: Belly, Feed the Tree.