Thursday Tree Love: The Tree with the Eye

Trees make me wonder

about the shapes they grow into

looking like arms or faces.

Is it a coincidence? By design?

A message?

Trees make me wonder

About the feeling I get

When I lay hands on their trunks.

Is that a vibration? The flow of energy?

Communication?

Trees make me wonder

When they creak, sway, and rustle in the wind.

Are they singing? Dancing?

Or just enjoying the moment?

JoAnna of the Forest

There’s this tree at the Farm Animal Sanctuary where I volunteer. I believe it is a water oak. It offers me shady spot to park in the summertime. I wonder if it’s watching me.

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thakur.

For more Tree Love, visit Parul at Happiness and Food.

CFFC: Reflections or Shadows

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge for this week is, celebrating reflections or shadows. I went back in time to find the reflections of a live oak branch decorated for Christmas at Brookgreen Gardens annual “Night of a Thousand Candles.” This was the venue where David proposed to me in 2011, so these gardens are very special to us.

Brookgreen Gardens, SC. Night of a Thousand Candles 2015

The next photo is closer to home at Greenfield Lake:

Greenfield Lake

Finally, we have some tall, late afternoon shadows at the beach:

For more fun photos, visit Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge by clicking HERE.

Thursday Tree Love: New Life

Sometimes it seems like things are in ruins. But life has a way of surprising us. Trust the timing.

This photo was taken by my amazing daughter, Ayla. It’s a young cypress growing from a stump at a nature preserve here in North Carolina.

Photo by Ayla Likens

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thakur. For more Tree Love, visit Paurl’s blog Happiness and Food.

Thursday Tree Love: A Decaying Trunk and a Pitcher Plant

A few days after the Hurricane

I don’t remember what kind of tree this was or when it died. It lived for many years along the fence in my backyard. Decaying limbs hung on until a hurricane, maybe Florence in 2018, sheared the top off leaving a finger pointing skyward which disintegrated over time. In preparation for working on the fence, I asked David to cut the dead trunk in the shape of a castle or tower. Some of the cuttings reminded me more of castles like the last one in the gallery. The remaining stump still provides a home for bugs, grubs, mushrooms, and who knows what else… maybe fairies!

Years later learning on the fence

Last summer

Tiny mushrooms 2021

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thakur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. Today, Parul shared a young banyan tree in a pot and asked us to share a plant from our home, neighbourhood or surroundings. One interesting plant that came to mind is the pitcher plant which grows wild in the wetlands of North Carolina and other places around the world. It is a carnivorous plant and catches insects.

For more tree love, visit Paurl’s blog: Happiness and Food.

Thursday Tree Love: Parking Lot Cedar

Heating and Air Truck in Cedar’s Shade

A cedar tree grows in my favorite grocery store parking lot. It’s my favorite lot for the trees and their shade more than the groceries. Most new parking lots have zero trees, though I continue to advocate for leaving the mature trees and building around them.

It was funny to see this heating and air conditioning truck parked in an unmarked space to get shade from the cedar tree. Trees definitely help with air conditioning, especially in the summertime.

~~~

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thakur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. For more tree love, visit Parul at: https://www.happinessandfood.com/thursdaytreelove-131/

Thursday Tree Love: Blooming Magnolias

Magnolia Flowers in the Parking Lot

It seems everywhere I look magnolias are blooming – big sprawling trees and tall thin ones like the one in the parking lot at the grocery store. I had not realized this parking lot contained a magnolia tree until today. You may have read this before here and might again: All parking lots should have tree islands like this one that I’m guessing was paved about 30 years ago. Magnolias are evergreens. They drop the old brown leaves as new leaves and flowers come in. The flowers have a soft, lemony scent.

More magnolia photos:

The parking lot magnolia is behind the maples.

Parking lot magnolia

Magnolia on Market Street

Magnolia at the Jewish temple.

More at the temple…

…

Photo by my daughter, Ayla

The last photo was taken by my daughter a couple of weeks ago at her apartment complex where the magnolia flowers were “as big as your head.”

~~~

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thakur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. For more tree love, visit Parul at: https://www.happinessandfood.com/thursdaytreelove-130/

Thursday Tree Love: Tolerating Human Intrusion

Tree in the median near the Basilica of Saint Mary

In the older parts of my city, including downtown and my neighborhood, electrical/utility lines still crisscross overhead. The branches of old trees are cut away from the lines in what often appear as grotesque deformities. Still, most of the trees seem to adapt. In newer neighborhoods, the utility lines are buried underground which looks better from a human perspective and reduces storm damage. Who knows what the trees and mycelium network prefer? They would probably prefer we let them grow naturally without intrusion. I am grateful for these trees putting up with us as they continue to provide shade, habitat, and oxygen.

Winter

Same tree in spring

Another tree in May

This one is hanging on.

Do you see a face?

It will fill out by summer

Basilica of Saint Mary and campaign signs

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thakur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. For more tree love, visit Parul at: https://www.happinessandfood.com/thursdaytreelove-129/

Thursday Tree Love: On the Curve

(If you zoom in, you can see the resurrection fern growing on the branches.)

This live oak tree has been living on the inner edge of the curve for a long time. I’m thankful it’s still there being so close to the street. Diving around this curve was a bit of a challenge when I moved into the nearby neighborhood thirty-something years ago. Now it’s a comforting landmark telling me I’m almost home. Most things get better with practice.

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thakur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month.

For more tree love, visit Parul by clicking HERE.

Thursday Tree Love: Live Oak with Resurrection Fern and Spanish Moss Over Water

“Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.” – Rachel Carson

My friend enticed me to go to Airlie Gardens a couple of weeks ago to take pictures. I’m so glad we went. It was a perfect spring morning. This cluster of live oaks leaning over the water were among my favorites.

Skirted by azaleas, the trunks provided a home for resurrection fern. Branches leaning over water were draped in Spanish Moss.

View from the other side

Thursday Tree Love is hosted on the second and fourth Thursday of each month by Paurl Thakur. For more tree love, visit Parul at: https://www.happinessandfood.com/thursdaytreelove-127/

#ThursdayTreeLove | When Great Trees Fall, or My Father’s Tree

I’m sharing this post from Chandra to save her experience and Maya Angelou’s poem about great trees and great souls. May we always remember.

Pics and Posts

Yesterday, while I was considering using the tree above for today’s #ThursdayTreeLove, I received a text message from my Raven, asking if I were in my office. I had a moment of excitement thinking she was visiting from California and was on her way to see me. Sadly, that was not the case. However, she had her sister, who lives in the area, deliver a beautiful “forever bouquet” with an elegant note tucked inside that only an English major could write [Biased? Perhaps]. Her note included the last verse of Maya Angelou’s poem below.

When Great Trees Fall
Maya Angelou

When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare…

View original post 226 more words