About Trees

 

Visiting the much-loved spot - Sarasota Bayfront Park, to view the water, downtown, and the big, old trees. Many were lost when Hurricane Milton came onshore very close by. The tree population looked sparser than ever. Banyan, Oak, Palm. But to see many of these huge trees still standing was a joy. They weathered the storm, their roots are deep. They creaked and swayed with well over 100 mph winds but stood firmly holding their ground.

My Dad's mighty oak. The oak tree planted not long after my Dad passed away has grown into a mighty tall tree. I visit it anytime I am back in my hometown. Standing just a couple blocks from Venice Beach, it also weathered Hurricane Milton and stands firm. We went to visit dear friends, who had a plaque made at the tree, for anyone to know that this tree was planted in my Dad's honor/memory. It felt so special to be there for its unveiling. 

The oak was the mighty giant, who held the ball moon in goblet fingers. (John Lewis-Stempel)

To say that I have a thing for trees would be fully accurate and not a recent purview. It has been something in me since childhood, always there. If you know me, you know I am always interested in learning about, reading about, encountering, venturing to trees. 

We can place the blame on my Dad, for he was bit of a tree lover, and he knew a lot about trees (being in the lawn maintenance field with his business). His father was in the U.S. Forestry Service, so my Dad spent much of his childhood traveling around the country with his family going to all the forests for his father's work. Moving forward in time, on all our family vacations, we would hike in nature. It was a staple of all our adventures no matter where we went (New England, out West, North Carolina, Georgia, etc). There was one particular giant tree in North Carolina we would hike to on every visit every year. I can't tell you how many times I've hiked to that giant tree, and I loved it every time. Shuffling our feet through fallen leaves, bundled up in puffy coats and gloves. The excitement of arriving at such a tall, giant with massive trunk sitting there in the middle of the forest was always mysterious and magical to me. 

I would think of the lifespan of trees. When I learned how old trees were, some being over 100 - 150 years old, I remember feeling astonished, imagining my limited timeline in history, how the tree was there back in the 1800s. How much has happened in the world in that time? It set my mind to wondering. The tree was there to witness it. That seemed ancient to my young mind. Growing up in the U.S. things just weren't that old. Anything over 100 years old was practically ancient. 

I see your knuckles hard and strong,
But have no fear they'll come to blows;
Your life is long, and mine is short,
But which has known the greater woes?

(W.H. Davies)

Oak trees have been essential to humanity and our explorations and building - the first ships to go to the isle of Britain (the Angles, the Saxons, the Norse) were longboats made of oak. The oak timber built the strongest frames for houses and great buildings in Britain - it actually gets tougher as it ages. It never bows and can stand for a thousand years. It was why churches and great halls used oak.

It wasn't that Dad ever recited poetry about trees, but it was the way he knew about them, recognized them, noticed them, and respected them. He knew them as an asset, valuable for our lives here. As a lover of nature, hiking, camping, being outside, his appreciation of all these things was so evident it was naturally distilled into me growing up. I always had an appreciation for such things as well. I mean, we took family vacations to see my grandma in North Carolina every Oct/Nov so we could see the trees and their leaves shift to yellows, reds, and oranges and experience something so different from Florida's nature. Those memories and my love of leaf-looking deeply influenced my love of trees, seasons, and travel.   

To lie by day in thy green shade,
And in thy hollow rest at night;
And through the open doorways see
The stars turn over leaves of light.
(W.H. Davies)

I love looking up through the branches and leaves of a tree. Contrasting with the sky above it takes you out of your own self for a moment, to see what is much bigger (and maybe much older) than you. I suppose the leaves I usually peruse most often are leaves of books (made of trees). They are intertwined like elements of nature. J.R.R. Tolkien was a bit of a tree lover himself, and he created the Ents, walking/talking trees as creatures in Middle-earth, and they were inspired by oaks. I called Dad "Treebeard" as the leader of the Ents as a joke and it stuck. He probably thought his cooky daughter was just caught up in her crazy imagination again. Maybe a little bit, but it was my way of complimenting his sturdy, solid heart, dependable nature, like that of an oak.