“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It Goes On.”
Robert Frost
Showing posts with label trees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trees. Show all posts

Friday, January 28, 2022

Winter Roller Coaster

It's been a winter roller-coaster of temperatures.  Regular cold, extreme cold, mild cold, bitter cold, go for a walk cold, huddle under a blanket in front of the TV cold, more extreme cold, 5 minutes till frostbite cold etc.....  My kitty Guy reminded me to add one more kind of cold, "hissy fit" cold! That is the sound he makes when he walks outside and the ground is too cold for his little dainty feet. Even though he has more toe fur than any other cat I've ever known! So I pick up the spoiled hissy cat and walk him around until we both have had enough.

But meanwhile, looking out my side window from the comfort of my home is a view of this pretty old oak tree.



I caught this just a bit after sunrise the other morning. The glow of the sun made everything seem better.

In other news, I've opened up my Etsy shop again and have tried to be better about listing items every few days. I get in a rhythm and things seem to move along. The rest of the time seems to be stuck on the phone trying to get answers to questions for things like insurance changes, drivers license renewal information etc. I've been on hold for hours it seems just trying to get a quick answer that after spending more hours online I was never able to locate the information. This pandemic is really getting old!

Thus is life. Lines and waiting. 

 

Above, me praying for an end to the extreme winter cold. Just kidding, this is a cute little figurine that I've listed in my shop.




Well what can we do? I say put on the tea kettle and have a cup of tea! I'll have "Constant Comment", one of my faves. Have a wonderful winter, hope you are staying warm and toasty!

Diane & "Hissy Fit" Guy

Friday, November 1, 2013

The Fields of Gold

One of my favorite colors of Autumn is Gold. Brash orange and fiery red seem to outshine poor gold for most of the season. Mostly, I like the combination of all the colors, but it's the memories of golden fields that I cling to.

Gold always reminds me of my first eighteen years of life living on my parents farm.  We were in a rural area and at least an hours drive to a large city.  The fields were full of golden wheat and russet hued milo. 





The picture above is not mine, but an example of a typical wheat field.  After the wheat was harvested, my father would bale the straw and keep it to use as bedding for the cattle and pigs.  This time of year brings out my nostalgic side remembering the family gatherings at my parents and grandparents homes, now all gone.












My view has changed now and the gold I see from my window is one of the golden and russet leaves on the trees. I love this view and wouldn't trade it for the world.  The remarkable thing about us humans is that we can imagine and when I close my eyes for a moment, I can still see the golden fields of my childhood home.
















As I look towards the blue sky and heaven, I see the golden leaves of our sugar maple trees and I am thankful for the wonderful past I've had and the promise of an even better future once I reach my own "Golden" years.

Welcome November, the month of Thankfulness.  ~~ Diane



Friday, December 21, 2012

O Christmas Tree . . .

Since we survived the doomsday prediction that has been circulating, I guess I better do a new post.  Thinking about what I love at Christmas, I decided a bit more music was necessary. 

 



O Christmas Tree, arranged for piano by joehumemusic.com


In keeping with the Christmas Tree theme, I wanted to share this too. Below is another wonderful illustration done by Lois Maloy for the sweet poem "Pine Tree Song" by Marjorie Barrows from the book Poems for Boys and Girls.





Hope your holidays are filled with Joy!


Sunday, May 20, 2012

My Overgrown Jungle

Over these past fourteen years my garden has changed quite a bit. It started out tidy and precise and now has become wild and somewhat untamed. I have never been a person who liked straight lines or straight rows. My garden beds have huge curves and I like them that way. I let stray seedlings grow where they want.  I don't even put hoops around my peonies all the time! I let the bugs chew on my plants.

Last year we had an event at our house for about forty people. Most of the guests seemed to like my garden and several asked for a little tour. Those who walked with me through the garden asked interesting questions and related similar experiences with their plants and were a joy to have in my garden.

On the other hand, one person who had been silent on the tour, waited until everyone else had drifted off, and then made a point of commenting that my garden was kind of overgrown and like a jungle. Her tone at first took me by surprise because she was serious, as though I was committing some kind of crime. Like she was letting me know that everyone else thought my garden was a mess and she was going to tell me the truth.

                         When it registered what she actually said, I started laughing... and then...

I replied with a smile,"Why, Thank You!"



Oh look, this columbine seeded itself here on it's own -- and I am leaving it there!

























 Yes, my roses loll over the fence.







 My refuge and my heaven on earth!






 "Nature knows no indecencies; 
Man invents them."
Mark Twain (1835-1910)












A blue clematis is being overrun by an exuberant autumn flowering clematis. I am thrilled because for many years the autumn clematis has had a hard time getting established.  I look forward to it's blooms in September.

My garden looks like a jungle and I like it!


Friday, April 20, 2012

More Trees Please

Earth Day is this Sunday, April 22nd. Today I am focusing on trees.  I have always been fond of trees. I spent many hours playing among the trees in our windbreak next to the house.  Our land had been in the family for over a hundred years and my great grandfather planted many trees and an orchard on our farm. After leaving home to go to college and then find a job, I realized how lucky I had been to have this experience as a child. Sadly, no one in my family wanted to manage a farm and the land has been sold and most of the trees have been cleared for farming.

I grew up on the Great Plains where areas of trees can be few and far between.  There are trees in windbreaks and a few in clumps around farmsteads but there are miles of land with no trees at all.  If you have ever driven across the Dakotas, Nebraska or Kansas you know what I mean.  That is somewhat the nature of the area; flashback two hundred years and think vast acres of tall grass and buffalo.  Now and then a fire started by lightening would burn out all the poor trees that happened to sprout there.  The grasslands persist to this day in some areas.  Much has been converted into farmland and grows wheat, corn and soybeans.  The photo below is probably a harvested cornfield. Even though I still feel that the plains states are lacking in trees, it was much more barren some 150 years ago. This all changed when J. Sterling Morton moved to Nebraska.


 


In 1854 J. Sterling Morton, a journalist from Michigan, brought his family to the Nebraska Territory and became editor of Nebraska's first newspaper.  He and his wife were both nature lovers, and their new homestead was quickly planted with trees, shrubs and flowers.  Through his newspaper, Morton spread his enthusiasm for planting trees.  Many other pioneers missed the trees of their homelands and embraced his ideas for agricultural plantings of windbreaks and shade trees.  The pioneers also grew trees for fuel and building materials.

Morton proposed a tree-planting holiday to be called "Arbor Day" to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture.   The first "Arbor Day" took place on April 10, 1872 and over one million trees were planted in Nebraska!  Originally April 22nd (Morton's birthday and now Earth Day) became the official date for Arbor day. Now it is typically celebrated on the last Friday of April. As Arbor Day spread around the world, it is celebrated on different days to coincide with the optimum planting time for trees in that area.

Morton's home still exists and is now the Arbor Lodge State Historical Park and Arboretum and is located in Nebraska City, Nebraska. The surrounding area also includes Arbor Day Farm, Lied Lodge and much more.


 









More Trees Please

My husband and I have lived in several different parts of the country and over time decided that one thing we wanted was a home with trees. Not little stick trees that you see in all the new housing developments, but big mature trees. Years ago we built a house on a lot that had large mature trees. I was a plant novice at that time and did not realize until a few years later when they didn't leaf out in spring that they were American Elm trees. I cried the day they came and cut them down.

Now many years later I have a home with beautiful mature trees. We made sure none were elm trees this time. We have enjoyed them and nurtured them and admired their strength and beauty. Our trees  have brought us joy because of the all the wildlife they bring almost within our reach. A friend once said our house was like living in a tree house, because when you look out you are up high where the squirrels and birds live! We have sugar maple, ash, silver and Amur maple, spruce, pine, birch, mountain ash, mulberry, oak and willow on our property. They are not completely leafed out yet but here are a few pictures of some of our mighty trees.






Looking up the trunk of a large silver maple tree under the squirrel house.

Under the canopy of white birch, maple and ash trees.


When you celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day, I hope you remember this prayer for the trees.



The Forest's Prayer

"I am the heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights,
the friendly shade screening you from the summer sun,
and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your
thirst as you journey on. 

I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table,
the bed on which you lie, and the timber that builds your boat.

I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your homestead,
the wood of your cradle, the shell of your coffin.

I am the bread of kindness and the floor of beauty. 
You who pass by, listen to my prayer:  do me no harm."

Traditional Portuguese Prayer




Natasha in Oz
Earth Day Spirit at the Heart of a Wizardess

Friday, April 29, 2011

The Memory of Trees



    Do you know what today is?  Yes, the day of the Royal Wedding, but what else? It is Arbor Day. The day to remember and celebrate trees.  Here are a few things to think about or do to celebrate.
  1. Hug your favorite tree.
  2. Listen to Enyas "The Memory of Trees".
  3. Remember we owe everything to trees.
  4. They built our homes, our bridges, our wagons, our boats, our paper, and pencils.
  5. Trees keep us warm.
  6. They let us bring them inside and decorate them.
  7. Trees clean our air.
  8. They are home and food for wildlife.
  9. They provide food for us.
  10. Trees are beautiful to look at.
  11. They give us shade.
  12. We picnic under them, or read books, or take a nap.
  13. People have carved hearts in their bark.
  14. We sit or sleep on them.
  15. We eat our meals on them.
  16. We should love and care for them.
  17. Plant a tree in your yard or neighborhood.