Saturday, April 11, 2009

Requiem for a Tree

I did not hug the tree, nor am I going to change my name to Moonbeam Rainbowcatcher, but on this Easter Weekend, I hope you enjoy the photo essay below the fold.

BTW: Clicking on any of the pictures will take you to the full size version.

At the edge of our subdivision, there used to be a little strip of woods.


It was a cool place, both figuratively




and literally, as the temperature under the canopy was several degrees cooler during the heat of the summer.
For city kids like mine, it was a place of mystery



adventure,



and beauty.




It gave them a sense of being "in the wild" while walking a quarter of a mile in any direction would lead to "civilization".

When my son got his first air rifle, we went to the woods searching for squirrels, or rabbits, or beer cans to shoot. (We didn't see either of the former but we found LOTS of the latter)

In the middle of the woods was a HUGE magnolia tree.



I'm awful at estimation but it had to be at least 50 feet tall.




The blossoms were as big as my head.



The area under it's canopy was as big as my house. And, like all magnolias, it was easy to climb.



The woods and the tree are gone now.



I will miss them.

[Click on the title above, or date stamp below, to see the full article.]

Happy Easter!
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2 comments:

  1. instinctApril 11, 2009 at 9:54 PM

    Sucks. Places like that should always exist and it sucks that there is always someone who says "Well, we have to put this land to USE somehow"

    ReplyDelete
  2. daddyquatroApril 11, 2009 at 10:31 PM

    I don't begrudge the owner putting his property to profitable use. That's a valuable piece of real estate that's been vacant for 10 years. I don't know if they plan to expand the sub-division or put it to commercial use. If they're bulding more houses, I would have LOVED to have that magnolia in my back yard! Of course, there wouldn't be room for much else.

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