She said with warmth in her voice: ‘ Out of all the trees I look at, it is that one I want to see.’ I looked in the direction that her body had turned to and I was pleased. It is a tree that should have a name in this space. It is the one I look for after we come back from travelling. Did its dead roots hold against the storms, the drought the intense long days of rain? What shall we call it: The lived in log, The Grandfather skeleton, The woodpecker’s high rise?
Keep it simple. I name you The skeleton tree for this space. There are at least three other more ancient trees that would qualify for Grandfather skeleton.
So here you stand no metal fence like the rest but a wood one with a much larger circumference. It is not only the roots but also the falling branches that must be cared for. Through many springs, summers,autumns and winters there is no change to be seen. That which brings change of colour has left long ago instead the greens and goldens are shared by one particular oak tree that has threaded its living branches through skelton tree’s frame of browns and grey.
So each year I photograph the skeleton tree. Still there, still grey and framed by different skies.
Then at home where pot plants grow there are leaves that fall and tenaciously grow. Not much soil not much care they just grow. To name two: the Kalanchoe tomentosa and Graptoperalum paraguayense. The first is easier to remember for its fuzzy succulent looks it is known as panda plant. The other has a pale white sheen on the fat leaves and is sometimes called ghost plant.
Their leaves fall to live, but must wait a while to dry at the tip where they were joined to the plant. This wait is then followed by fine brown roots and a miniature plant, a growing leaf.
The panda plant…
and the new ghost plant.
From the meadow to a pot plant. A skelton tree to leaves that must grow. Our earth, our world a beautiful place.
And here are the first lines of the first psalm recorded by ‘us’ written by David:
‘ Happy is the one who doesn’t walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD and who meditates on His law. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruits in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers.’
Psalms 1: 1-3
Take care,
Sandy 🙂