Back in Bluestone

Well, over the passed few weeks I've been conducting a minute experiment with small-growth forests in the Alpine District of Melbourne, and now I'm ready (almost) to publish my results. On the whole, it was certainly worthwhile, and if I were offered a minute, I would do it again, but my findings won't exactly burn through academia. The problem was that there isn't that much about trees that we don't already know, and what we do already know isn't particularly interesting to anyone but tree enthusiasts.

That said, there have been times where boys of bold colours (A.T.T., B.H., H.B., T.F.D.) poked a nose or two in curiosity, and found the findings startling, particularly in lieu of prior hermitude. Some have attributed it to a bunch of correspondents in said place, whose free (for the most part) hospitality would have provided an attractive bonus on a trip, but this, regrettably, was mostly concocted to convince certain backers of my experiment that I would be in safe hands, and that worry shouldn't worry them. Although, had it been true, it would have been a very wise thing, especially considering things like over-solitude and swallowed funds. Right now, I really wish I had a less stale pen back then, and knew of more Alpines, perhaps intimately, prior. But that's spilt milk. 'Twas nice regardless of an empty side, and sometimes even because of it.

Oddly enough, I found two new species of trees. I told B.H. in a Fitzroy caf. last week and believe me, he did not. So I took him out to see them, and see them, he did. I think he believes now.