By Scott Shephard

Tony L., my high school Latin teacher, would be proud of me for remembering the Latin verb tenere, which means “to hold” or “to hold on to.” Tenacious and tenacity are two English derivatives. When applied to humans, they both suggest a determined will to “hang on” and not give up.

Can a tree be tenacious? Why not? In this case, a cedar tree growing on the side of a limestone cliff just off of Green Bay (not the town but the bay), seems to be hanging on to these slabs of limestone. Is the tree “determined” in it efforts? Or is this an accident?

As much as I like trees, I don’t know enough about them to answer these questions. I do know that this tree stopped me yesterday and made me get out of my truck to take its photo. That’s quite a feat for tree, which has lived its whole life quietly hanging on.

Canon R5 f/4.0 1/160 sec ISO 250

For me, the tree and its surroundings offered a target-rich environment: