Matsuyani- Part I

I visited a wisened old pine tree

And brought a wooden box...

 ...to collect the sap that oozes from this old scar. I don't know how this tree was damaged- looks like an axe cut at the top, and some burnt areas at the bottom. And the very highest boughs look as though they may have been struck by lightning, I think. You can admire an old tree like this- for its long-suffering.

My greying hair ( at 33!) looks like a spiders body

Into the box goes the sap- or matsuyani to the Japanese. The warm summer wind combs the golden grass and the smell of the sap is good.  I am going to follow a traditional Japanese recipe to make a very useful substance- the main ingredient is pine sap. The next step is to refine the sap by boiling off the volatile turpenes. I dont want this stuff to burn easily. Why? What is this for? All will be revealled in part II (and hopefully part III....)

Until then, Ill leave you on this note:

The bucolic charm of this Australian vista ( I admit, I am a bucaholic)- and the incongruous pine branch- in Japanese composition. Thats sort of how I'm feeling.