MIRROR OF THE FOREST
I eye the forest path around the lake and straightaway grab the camera to capture the lake landscape from different perspectives on the undulating dirt trail. All the colors of the forest are there on the surface of the water. The lake is reflecting the forest back to me. The yellowish white tasseled blossoms of the chestnut trees, the varied tones of the pines melding from green to blue; hornbeam, birch and chestnut on the slopes facing north, black and Scotch pine facing south, some half submerged in the water. Wild flowers, moss and mushrooms under the trees. On the western side of the lake the poplar trees catch my eye, obscuring the forest view. Rising in the mountains, the Çatagin river carried alluvion which in time turned this part of the lake into a marsh. To reverse this trend, the region was reforested in 1990. The area, a section of which is covered with reeds, is at the same time a small bird sanctuary.