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TREE WATCHING: A SPECTATOR SPORT

5/16/2021

8 Comments

 
Picture
     Do you see it?
     No, not a bird.
     No, not a plane.
     It's a leaf! Leaves, actually.
    Ash and you shall receive! Yes, that's our backyard ash tree. It has been the prettiest tree by far on our property for years. I planted it with two others not long after we moved here in 1998. They say you plant trees not for the present but for the future.
     I didn't know that our future would include the emerald ash borer beetle. But then, who did?         That green insect and his buddies have taken quite a toll.  Just look out along highways and into woodlands and you'll see the skeletons of once-beautiful trees such as this one.
     I thought the beetle family had found us last summer. We had two huge limbs on the left side of the tree that were dead. Brian said we should just take the tree down if death is its destiny. There were other trees in our backyard that could use a good pruning. What to do?
     I said if the tree would live a few more years, let's keep it.
     We made a deal. We would ask our tree man, Rob Tuttle. If Rob said our tree still had some life left in it, we'd keep it and let him trim out those dead limbs, as well as prune our other trees.
    Rob said leaf it alone. No he didn't. But he did say keep the tree.
    On a gorgeous November day, with autumn-hued leaves still on the ash, Rob and crew showed up and did their thing. 
    During the rest of the fall, winter, and early spring, I kept watch over our backyard, wondering what all six backyard trees would look like when the leaves appeared.
    So this spring the other trees gradually turned green as the ash remained utterly barren of signs of life. I watched that ash as though it were a spectator sport.
    Finally, I saw what appeared to be buds of things to come, and then it turned quite cold. Would the chill nip things in the bud?
    And then ... this past week, I noticed the tiniest of leaves. Now they are filling out a little more each day. It appears that Rob was right! I don't see any new dead limbs, even. 
Picture
     Those who know our story know that this has been a difficult period around our homestead with Brian's illness. We had company this past week, three days' worth, even, filling the house with chatter and laughter and stories and life and some of our very favorite people on the planet! We loved every moment. They made our home feel something like normal.
       These leaves on our trees make our lawn feel something like normal, too. Sometimes "normal" is the best word in the English language. You don't know that until you do.
       And this is why you have no idea how happy I am that Rob Tuttle was right.
Picture
My Mother's Day gift: a new black, all-weather compose rocking chair from Cracker Barrel. We have two on the front porch that I bought back in the wee hours of spring. They are wonderful chairs! And with 20-year warranties.
8 Comments
JoAnna Hann
5/16/2021 12:27:03 pm

Loved this post. Happy your Ash is coming back. Ever since we lived in the house we rented from your Dad in the country, I have had a certain connection with trees. I love to just sit and "watch", or more, close my eyes and listen to what I like to imagine are their voices. If I can find a quiet enough spot as I did back then in the woods as a child, where there is no cars or "human noise" to interfere, I sit with the trees and just listen as the breeze blows through the branches this way and that as if it were breath making speech or song possible. Its quite beautiful to listen to.

Reply
Donna R Cronk link
5/16/2021 12:34:05 pm

Joanna,
Thank you for telling me that! I love to listen to trees and birds and nature too. I loved the house where you lived! When the Chapmans rented it, I was there all the time and spent the night there so many times. Wonderful memories! There was a HUGE tree in the yard on the south side of the house. I'm sure it's no longer there and don't know if you knew it, but we played "house" in that tree! The kids' mother sold Avon and had business cards. We would use her business cards and pretend we were career women with these fancy business cards! So much simple fun back in the day just creating these "worlds." Also before Crowders moved in, their house was empty for a time and we played house in a real house!

Reply
Gay Kirkton
5/17/2021 07:23:00 am

Glad your ash is back! We loved ours also,but sadly it succumbed to the ash borer a few years ago.Enjoy its shade!

Reply
Donna R Cronk
5/17/2021 07:54:23 am

Gay,
I didn't know about your ash tree. It's so sad, isn't it? Not to mention costly to take them out. Thanks for your comments AND for your visit a week ago yesterday. Much love.

Reply
Nancy Huntington
5/21/2021 04:08:04 pm

I love ALL your blog stories (and your newspaper columns before you retired) but this one really hits home. We lost 3 trees to the ash borer a few years ago. So sad to lose a tree. I am so glad yours is getting leaves. As you said - normal!

Reply
MckinneyVia link
10/11/2021 11:34:20 pm

Very much appreciated. Thank you for this excellent article. Keep posting!

Reply
MckinneyVia link
2/17/2022 07:48:29 am

Thank you for sharing informative content. It means a lot to me hope you do more articles to post.

Reply
Daniel Johnson link
3/7/2022 01:33:15 pm

Great Post. Thanks for sharing

Reply



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