Hidden Layers

Not long ago, I watched an episode of “Nature” on PBS about the discovery of a partial skeleton of what might be the largest dinosaur species to ever have walked the Earth. It was found in Argentina and is thought to have lived about 100 million years ago. I started watching the show because it was hosted by Sir David Attenborough, who never fails to get me just as interested in a topic as he is.

This was no exception. For one thing, when they first showed the thigh bone (femur), I couldn’t help noticing that its length seemed greater than the height of Attenborough himself. Sure enough, they revealed that it was almost 8 feet long! Try to imagine the size of this animal: half of its leg was taller than a person! It was around 120 feet long: that’s twenty of me lying head to foot! That’s BIG. It’s also a little hard to envision.

Scientists had casts made of the bones and assembled them in a warehouse so they could see what the complete skeleton looked like. I was fascinated with the result. Although a skeleton is certainly not the whole dinosaur, it gave me a better idea of the basic structure of the animal.

I thought about that today when I went for a walk, a rare thing for me in the winter. We’ve been blessed with unseasonably warm temperatures lately and I decided it was time to take advantage of that, so I headed to a tree-filled park north of town … in a T-shirt! How strange is that for February? It felt good to walk without immediately wanting to retreat inside.

As I walked, however, I noticed something strange. The park looked different. Other than the fact that the trees had no leaves and there were no blooming plants, something else was off. I peered around me, trying to discern what it was … and then it hit me: I could see! Without the curtain of leaves and lush vegetation, I could see parts of the park that had always been hidden to me during the spring, summer and fall.

It was kind of fun to realize there was a stream I’d never noticed, to recognize another path that was closer than I thought, to spot other people through the trees. I saw hills and boulders that had never been visible before.

Like the dinosaur, I wasn’t seeing the whole park, but winter has revealed a layer that usually goes unseen: the basic structure. Just as the dinosaur’s skeleton would have been covered with muscles, organs and skin, what I saw of the park will soon be covered with leaves, grass and various plants. It will be inhabited by squirrels, rabbits, deer, turtles and birds of all types.

It all begins with the foundation.

If you want to watch the “Nature” episode, here’s a link: Nature Episode