# <center>"Green Tears"<center>
<center>(Photography and story by @eric-boucher)<center>
![eric-boucher's photography "Green Tears".jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZtorwhdshyDhjfLYipTSLuAEvazbzHQkpVjD29chZpVJ/eric-boucher's%20photography%20%22Green%20Tears%22.jpg)
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This first entry in the "Mundane as Art Contest, held by our dear Steemian compadre @kus-knee offers great rewards for his contest: A minimum of 10 SBD (Steem Back Dollars) are offered as a prize for the winners of this photography contest. Since I had a few tree skin pictures in my collection, I thought I'd share at least two of them.

As far as I can remember, I have always been very close to trees: Slept under them in the summer as well as in the winter, meditated at their feet and among their branches, climbed or somehow scaled them, traversed between them and even launched myself off of them tumbling down like an avalanche from the smallest branches to its strongest ones landing at the base in a huge pile of snow, to my mother's horror! I have came to know them as long old timer friends, ones to confide in, find calm among while their natural healthy lands quickly became one of my very favourite grounding space.

I still remember, I must have been 3 or 4 years old, coming to the realization that their bark is their skin, exactly like our skin! It sheds, changes colours and even changes shape depending on the area of their body and, to sink it even deeper, it bleeds and tears up.

Here for my first entry, I present to you a photograph taken in Waterton National Park a few years back. Maybe some of you who have been following me since the very beginning of Steemit.com will remember my first posts?!? As a quick reminder, a group of 9 Frenchies from *"La Belle Province"*, Quebec, congregated in the first national park ever created in the second largest country in the world, our Canada. Most had to drive at least four days to reach the destination, already well renown for its family gathering qualities, and a feeling of excitement reached its apex as my father, Gaston, his partner Josée and I arrived on the so-called *Townsite Village Campground*. Located right along the north shores of Upper Waterton Lake, the campgrounds has a total of 237 sites where a few variety of trees sparse among the cars, RVs, tents and trailers endure the fierce winds and the passage of time.

This tree, found on the campsite where Josée, Gaston and I were camped had seen many moons and suffered many human interactions not as gentle and respectful as we were toward it... The colour rendition is as close to the sight we had of it when we had our nose right against its bark, hugging it, as it deserved...

![NAMASTE.gif](https://steemitimages.com/DQmTkWQeEi65NpPEkcjdWLHNMcHp8xWGoeyWDaNGSUae3xG/NAMASTE.gif)