My friends and I take walks through Illinois Beach State Park several times a week, weather and Life permitting. The park is located in far NE Illinois along the shores of Lake Michigan, and consists of a narrow strip of beach, oak savanna, wetlands, and wooded areas. Usually, we stick to the lakeshore. It never ceases to amaze how the same body of water can look so different from one day to the next.

Sometimes, we find things. Accidental art, natural or manmade. Driftwood, smooth or gnarled, tumbled in random piles on the beach or arranged by someone into a tepee or a table. Stones either piled or used to spell out words or form shapes in the sand. Beach glass.

One of the neatest things turned up a couple of weeks ago. A long branch, worn smooth and gray everywhere but one very interesting place, a shallow, blackened depression that reminded me of a bison.

Driftwood bison

I often see people collect driftwood and take it home, and I knew I couldn’t leave behind something so cool. So I brought the bison branch home, and hung it in my living room. It fits in perfectly with the lodge/cabin decor.

On my wall