William Blake's Ancient of Days (1794)

Platonic Lambda Branch in Pepper Tree on Montebello Avenue, Mountain View

Albrecht Dürer's Melencolia I (1514)

A Pepper Tree Stops Me Cold Running down Montebello Ave to catch Bus #40 on Rengstorff Ave in Mountain View, a Pepper Tree stops me cold— Taking off my backpack, I get the camera to take a photo of this unusual branch bent sharply to form the Greek letter lambda Λ. Is this tree honoring the mountain-shape on the street where it lives, for Montebello means "beautiful mountain" or perhaps it's the compass held by that Angel in Dürer's Melencolia I, or Blake's God creating the world in Ancient of Days? I run my finger along this branch gently, pause and pray to the Platonic Lambda— Soul of the Universe for its blessings.         — Peter Y. Chou             Mountain View, 7-20-2014

Montebello Ave Signpost Pepper Tree on Montebello Ave