Once my mom took a picture of a tree and posted it on her blog because she thought it looked kind of heart shaped. It inspired her. It didn't do the same for me. But maybe it would have had I been there to introduce myself and get to know that tree!
At the same time, there have been numerous trees that have been inspiring to me.
When I was a kid, my dad built a triangular tree-house in a huge weeping willow. It felt like it was 12 feet in the air! Perhaps it was only 7 feet up, but the fact remains that the willow's branches would create privacy and shade for the tree-house, and the tree wisps would billow and sway in the breeze. It was a wonderful play area, until a tornado came and blew it over. The tree-house was never quite the same when it was on stilts (thanks for the effort dad!)
Fourth graders in the state of Tennessee are given a sapling of the state tree: the Tulip Poplar. I planted mine in the side yard of the Estill Springs house, and it really shot up like a weed. It's a soft-wood, as I understand it, but it held it's own during it's own bouts with storms, that ultimately changed its concept of what direction is "up." From here. Last I checked, it was like 60 feet tall, as big around as my waist, and going strong.
When we moved to Massachusetts, I fell in love with a beautiful Sugar Maple next to a gray weathered salt-box style colonial era house. I passed it on my way home from work every day. It has since been cut down, perhaps to reduce the threat to the house from its majestic and aspiring branches, but my memories of it will never fade.
Then there's that old maple outside our favorite Sugar Shack. Think of the hundreds of gallons of maple syrup it has contributed over the decades! Yes, I'm sentimental about trees.
Even trees I never knew, but had read about. There's a plague on American Elms going through New England, and I read articles about tree-lined streets that overnight become un-tree-lined, because the trees are removed due to a pesky beetle killing them. Our neighborhood had one surviving Elm. One day on my way to work last month this last-remaining-tree was being taken down because it also met an early demise due to the bug. Sad day for me.
Fortunately, I have another sugar maple that I have to look at, this one I see as I walk with Ian and Blake to drop him off at school each morning. The tree is beautiful with or without leaves on.
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| My new favorite tree. |
And we had a beautiful display in our backyard this fall, too.
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| The best tree our backyard this year. Pretty nice! |
I get very attached to trees, too! That weeping willow was awesome, my favorite! The day I came home and saw that it had been literally twisted out of the ground, evidently by its own personal whirlwind, I was devastated. I also love the ginko tree at the Lutheran church. You have some gorgeous trees...I am sorry about the bugged ones. That is terrible. I don't get attached to bugs.
ReplyDeleteI'm not very knowledgeable about different types of trees, but I loved the tree in the front yard of my maternal grandma's house. Lots of time playing up in its branches with sisters and cousins.
ReplyDeleteThen there was the blue spruce in the front yard of my childhood home. Sometimes it was decorated as a Christmas tree, very often it was used as third base in countless kickball games with the neighbor kids.
In our current neighborhood, there's the house down the street with a globe willow (and another of the same tree at the park), which provides plenty of nice sticks for little kids to play with. There's the big tree next to the river trail that has a long chain and yellow swing hanging from its tall, tall branch. That's probably George's favorite tree, although he'd probably tell you his favorite is a conifer. Ever since he's learned that word, he's been a little obsessed with conifers. He also loves oak trees and the acorns they drop.
Jen likes the weeping cherries, I think they're called. When we get a yard and have some interest in landscaping, I suspect we'll get her one of those. Climbing trees always make memories.
ReplyDeleteStephanie, I'm glad George likes conifers. Ian's a fan of evergreens, too.