I love visiting Durham.

There’s so much to see—the cathedral, the castle, history and life.

It’s full of buildings, spirituality and thought that has solidly stood the test of time.

But on this day, it wasn’t the grand landmarks that caught my eye. It was the bark of a tree.

I’m not sure what kind of tree it was—perhaps a birch—but there was something almost delicate and oriental about it. The bark was thin, fragile, like layers of paper peeling away. Fragile to the touch, yet protecting a trunk that had stood tall for decades. I imagined ripping a piece off, writing a poem on it, and sending it out into the world—a little letter for anyone to find.

It made me wonder

‘could this be what inspired the first paper?’

Something light enough to carry, pliable enough to bend, yet strong enough to hold stories, weave lives, and endure the ages.

Taking the photo, I felt a connection to the past. Just as paper carries words across time and space, this image captures a moment, a thought, ready to live on for someone else to encounter.

This photo reminded me how fragility and strength can coexist, and how even the smallest details—a piece of bark, a captured moment—can connect us across time and distance.