When there’s no leaves on the trees I can see the intricacies of how they grow in relation to each other. In my back yard there is a stand of about 14 trees in the corner closest to the patio. I noticed recently, before the buds opened, how the branches mingle. There are mostly younger trees, maples with their trunks growing straight and tall. There is also some type of berry producing tree with smaller leaves. My daughter has always called it the crooked tree and it is fairly old. It grows at perhaps a fifty degree angle and so leans toward the others. It’s bark is rough and a darker color than its neighbors. The branches have grown around, but not encompassing, a couple of the smaller, younger trees in such a way that it looks as if the others are helping to support it, as young soldiers might support an old war veteran stooped with age.
As I sipped tea on the patio after dinner one evening I considered the crooked tree. It stands with its rough barked trunk curving in a couple places creating a snake-like appearance. I estimate the circumference of it to be about 2 feet. I think that if we were to ever cut it down the growth rings would be very close together. How old it is I do not know, but it was here when we bought our house thirty some years ago. How many harsh, cold winters and hot summers it has seen intrigues me. Perhaps it was there when the house was built, just a sapling in the woods. My town was originally primarily a camping area. It hosted hunters in the colder months, and people camping by the mountain lake to escape the heat of the summer. Generations of chipmunks and squirrels surely frolicked on its trunk and among the branches, and it must have played host to countless bird’s nests. Those same creatures probably took shelter there from the summer rain, and feasted on the berries produced by the tree. As the plots of land were cleared to build cabins, how did that tree manage to be over looked? I imagine it was silent witness to the campfires that campers had, the marshmallows roasted on whittled sticks and laughter of people relaxing from their workaday lives for a few weeks every year. It has borne testament to the changes brought by our town becoming a year round place to live and work, the expansion of roads, houses, and businesses. Silently there while my children grew and played with their friends in the shade on hot summer days and in the snow during the winter. Like an old friend the tree keeps me company when I’m enjoying the outdoors.
Sometimes we don’t really think about the landscape that is part of our everyday lives. I find it relaxing to muse about the life and history of the things around me when I get the chance to sit quietly and let my mind wander.
