If the tree could talk would it tell us their stories?
Tipper
Appalachia Through My Eyes – A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.
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Every time I see a big tree I always wonder this same thing.
Must be that time of year. Down home, the trees are probably starting to leaf out. I, too, have always loved trees. I love the look of them, the way they shade us from the heat, and the wonderful patterns that they and the sun make on the ground. I recently found many of my “old tree” photos and feel like I’m revisiting old friends.
Just to prove how much trees mean to me, we got married on the grounds of a surviving plantation home (pre-War-Between-the-States) under the canopy of an ancient oak. We know that the oak saw action during the war because of the bullet holes it survived. I figured if that old oak could survive that and all the urbanization around it, then maybe a marriage started under it’s boughs would survive the upheavals of life as well. Twenty-five years and counting…
I have come to accept that trees will not talk. Not ever. And for this reason I feel safe around them.
I love having lots of trees around. The privacy is just one of the things they provide. Though lately around here there has been quite a bit of cutting going on. 🙁 Nana
You sure can get someone thinking of the past and the memories of days gone by.
What I mean by that is the simple life, the simple days of youth when life hardly ever threw you curve balls unlike today.
Whitetail Woods™
Whitetail Woods Blog / Deer Hunting and Blackpowder Shooting at it’s best.
Such joy and sorrow trees have witnessed. So much they could tell us….
Tipper,
Sometimes it bothers me when I have to take down an old tree. I
had to take out a huge Walnut last
February, blocking sunlight to my
garden. And already new shoots are
8 feet high coming from the stump.
Most of the time when I burn wood
for heat in wintertime, I use the
trees that have fallen already.
When I was younger I got many a
squirrel from those big hickory
trees in our hollar…Ken
Tipper,
That tree is nice. It is a good photo. I like all your photos.
If that tree -or trees that I’ve known- could talk what do I think they would say? Maybe my perception is different from some but, I believe it would talk of things other than the past alone. True, there would be things brought up from days gone by but, I like to think of things that would be more personal. I like to fantasize that it would say things like: I remember your name, I remember when you were a little boy, Wish you and your little friends that used to play here were still here, I remember when you fell that time trying to climb these limbs, Sometimes I wish you were still a little boy again and would play here once more, I still remember all you little boys and your names.
I don’t know; Do you think I need therapy? LOL. Anyway, that’s what I like to believe – at least the trees around here – would say to me.
Bradley
I love trees and I love hugging trees! They are so magnificent and lovely! I’m sure they could tell us some wonderful things and some not so wonderful things.
There was a book written years ago9it is probably out of print now) called “The Biography of a Tree”. The writer followed the history of a tree(using his knowledge of the life cycles of trees) and started with the acorn of an oak. It followed the tree through drought, fires, insect infestations and finally into old age as it reached the final years. It is very interesting and certainly made you believe that each tree has its own story to tell.
I like to touch their bark and feel the life inside, even when they are dormant(deciduous trees).
Trees certainly speak to me and in a beautiful way!
Thoughtful photo, Tipper!
Who among us hasn’t carried out some part of a courtship beneath the shady boughs of a tree? Maybe it’s a good thing they can’t talk!
The house my Mama had built when I was 12 is beside the house my husband and I built. When Mama and I moved in, the house was in a barren field. We planted grass made flower gardens and planted trees. We never bought a tree I went to the woods and dug up saplings and transplanted them, I also went to the pine thicket and raked pine needles and carried them in buckets for the flower gardens. I was thrilled at the age of 13 when Mama bought me a wheel barrow for my birthday at my request. There is now a giant Maple in her backyard and I found out it has to come down. With tears in my eyes I listened to the man tell me this. Soon they will be here to take her down. It is like taking an old friend. I carried that tree in my hand and dug a hole to plant it and watered it and nursed it and she finally makes a beautiful shade in the Summer and a brilliant color show in the Fall. My husband is going to have some neat thin sections preserved maybe for a tabl or something. I will miss that old Maple even though I hated the leaf raking.
Would love to know what the old trees could tell us about the people and events that took place before and after the town was established. There’s lots of history here and I would like to learn more about it.
I have a hall wall mirror that was my great grandparents I often wonder about the many reflections this mirror has given through the years. It has seen great grandmother adjust her hat, Dad fix his tie, people arriving for happy and sad occasions. What stories!
You and I seem to be on the same path lately, Tipper–I just wrote about WV’s big trees in my last post; and we both wrote about making yogurt lately. Great minds thinking alike 🙂
My trees are like old friends, and when we lose one it makes me sad. Never mind that we have about 30 acres of them; they are living on this place with me.
Tipper,
Sure trees talk and write…’cause I’ve seen inscriptions on lots of trees…or maybe that was someone writing to a tree.LOL
They have a lot to say we just don’t have a way to communicate verbally with them…LOL
I think they would speak like a wise Grandparent would.
It is a beautiful picture, and yes, wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could tell us some of the things they’ve seen/experienced over the years.
I enjoy walking in our woods and looking at the trees. Young ones, old ones. I like to look at their bark. So many differences.
Yes to can root the branches. You need a special root product. Check your local garden center. I have a bush my grandmother brought back from Europe. I had to take some cuttings and keep it going. It is 70 years old. Good luck. Trees become part of our family and our lives.
You got it, Tipper, the trees are magnificent old beings. They know it all but rarely tell!
i would love to hear the tree tell the stories it has seen, all trees in fact, we have 9 big trees, most of which are 50 plus years and one maybe 75 and I wonder what they saw here for all those years. love the photo. i went to the cemetery yesterday to find my great grandmother and grandfather. did not find the stone YET, the story will be on a post soon
I’ve wondered the same thing about our early American antique furniture. They should be able to tell some interesting stories too.
Sam
Beautiful notion! Our old poplar trees in the pasture in the Cove are all gone marking lots of years and memories! All except for one! It now lies on the ground with a huge hollow through the trunk! Jim wants to get a slice of the trunk and make a beautiful ‘work of art’ for our special brick wall near our deck! But so far that is just an idea!
Those big trees were our air conditioning in the summer time. Lying on one of mama’s quilts and reading TRUE STORY magazine – without her approval – under my favorite popular tree was the way I passed many a summer day! Of course that afternoon rest was taken AFTER I had pulled lots of rag weeds from the gargen and tossed them into the pig pen!!!
Thanks very much!
Eva Nell
I’ve often thought that same thing about the 100 year old Pine trees in the front yard of the farm where I grew up. I wonder who planted the trees & if they wondered how big they would get or wondered if they would live to see 2011?
Our trees were actually just cut down the day before yesterday. It was very sad to see them go but they were beginning to drop large branches & while alive, probably were at the end of their life. Can’t have those monsters falling on the old farm house so they had to go. It sure looks bare now, the house looks so uncovered & exposed. I am wondering if anyone that reads this blog might know if I could start new trees from these ones for they are still laying in the front yard & will be for another couple weeks.
If my trees could talk I would finally get to know the true history of my home and that would be wonderful!
Stacey
SWPA
Inspiring photo, Tipper. Trees can talk — mine do. 🙂
Such a beautiful photo! If trees could talk, I’m sure they’d have so many stories to tell us about the place they grew and the people living around it.