Lichens Everywhere

I am silent as I kneel at the altar made of sandstone, root, and earth wedged into the side of a cut into a hill along a trail in our woods. A blanket of moss gives way to iron-rich sandstone splashed with crustose lichens in shades of aqua and seafoam that brighten the roof of a funnel web woven by spider hidden from view.  A hairy woodpecker responds to the calls of a barred owl, alerting other small creatures of a predator in their midst as I narrow my focus from worries and fears to the peacefulness of the moment.