The Gloriousness of Knobbly Things

I think my favorite things in the natural world are those which are twisty and bumpy and seemingly misshapen (hence my love of parsnips). Driftwood, for instance, is fascinating to look at because of its oddity of form. Pinecones and branches are also wonderfully knobbly, like these that I've brought indoors:
This lovely bit of branch actually traveled all the way from Virginia with me- I love it so that I couldn't bring myself to leave it behind.
In light of how much I love all things strangely and wonderfully shaped, imagine my delight when I discovered that the high winds we had this past weekend had precipitated the fall of all the spiky seedpods from our sweetgum trees. In the usual way of things they don't fall until they're quite brown and dry, but the wind knocked them to the ground while they still were that incredible vibrant green. I gathered up all the pods and decided that I wanted to hang some on my apple branch, so I glued the stems into a loop and attached ribbon loops to them. Now they're hanging in the tree next to the paper sparrow and wooden owl, and they look very nice- like outer space christmas ornaments or miniature green fireworks.