Never mind the wood, watch out for the trees

Daily Prompt: Landscape

When you gaze out your window — real or figurative — do you see the forest first, or the trees?

It has been a while since I tackled the daily prompt but when I saw this I just knew I had to respond, even if only frivolously.

Literally, first –  I have to say “neither” because there are no trees. Effectively, the island that I live on has no trees at all. Most of Orkney is treeless. I miss trees terribly and there are days when I would sell my soul for a long walk in a forest upon a hill somewhere.

I look from my window and I see grass. Grass and sheep, sometimes maybe grass and cows. Grass and livestock and sky and clouds. A huge sky with fantastic clouds, to be sure – but not a tree in sight.

Figuratively speaking  I think that when I look out of my real window I see the trees first – the small details in the landscape that catch my eye – the wren bobbing in and out of the stone wall, the oystercatcher sitting on her nest, the lapwing seeing off a raid from a passing hooded crow. Sometimes it is the shape of a cloud that grabs my attention and I outline the elephant or the seal, at other times I spot our chickens going on safari in the field next door. It takes time to absorb all the detail and then to encompass the landscape as a whole. Despite the fact that it appears quite bleak and empty at times, there is a whole lot going on.

Now, what happens when I look from my figurative window? I guess we are speaking problem-solving here – something that I am good at. I am not sure that I can claim to be either a woods or trees person. I find it easy to see the bigger picture but I also very quickly grasp the detail of the individual tasks to be undertaken. Cool in a crisis, that’s me, and quick to find a resolution.

Or perhaps we are thinking of task management, and whether or not some project appears to large to handle. I am not fazed by the size of the plantation, I can tackle it tree by tree and work my way through with my task-assassination machete. Oh, yeah.

Ms Perfect, that’s me.

More on this prompt:

1. Daily Prompt: Landscape | psarmmiey’s Blog
2. No Land in ‘Landscape’ | The Magic Black Book
3. Daily Prompt: Landscape | Of Glass & Paper
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5. The Difference Between a Tree and a Skyscraper | Daily Prompt: Landscape | likereadingontrains
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14. Daily Prompt: Landscape « Mama Bear Musings
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32. Lens Flare | Travellin’ Thru Rambles
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35. Your Eyes in Landscape | Hasta Que mi Corazón Explote… | Until my Heart Explodes…
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38. The Forest or the Trees? #wordpress #dailypost #poetry #photography | Moondustwriter’s Blog
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76. Day 277. Big Picture | Three Hundred Sixty-Five
77. The forest and the trees. | Polyprotic Amory
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