Ent er tainment

For the first time this summer, I actually had some time to myself. Jenny was home, and had the kids. Henry had a playdate with two of his friends at tower hill botanical garden. This gave me a few free hours for the first time this summer. (It was nice). I had a bit of a problem deciding what to do with myself. I remember a while ago, I had an idea for an entry in this blog. I am sure this sounds kind of lame to some of you... actually, maybe most of you, but I have this thing for trees. They're old. Really old. In most cases, they are the oldest living things around here. I have favorite trees. I keep them like keepsakes in my mind. So today, I went and shot some pictures of four of them.

The first was in Rutland, right near the center actually. This one is by an old red house right past the elementary school on the left. Like most of these, this one was a bit more majestic before the ice storm. These old guys took quite a beating and lost a lot of their side branches. My choosing of this tree is really more about the setting as well as the tree. The house has a beautiful field and it sits right in the middle of it, lording over the land around it. It felt a bit awkward taking this picture, fearing one of my students or their family members seeing me snapping pictures of someone else's house... well field really.

Number two is on the way to Spencer center. Again, it sits right near an old farmhouse, like many of these old new england giants, they managed to live this long because of the lack of competition. They grow next to houses and roads and along the stone walls that divide one field from another. The house is for sale now, probably because of the "for sale" sign, selling off all of the land behind the house for development.

Number three is special. For one, its in the middle of the woods. Its a hike in a wonderful Mass Audubon owned sanctuary, Wachusett Meadow in Princeton. It is also huge! Its a giant White Oak, 15 feet around the base. Its over 250 years old. The area seems sacred. The canopy above it clears out to make almost a halo around the tree. This one speaks to me. I took a wrong turn on the trail and ended up inadvertently going up to the summit of brown hill. I have hiked this before, and it is a pretty place. Wachusett Meadow is beautiful and is free to Mass Audubon supporters... go us!

The last one is so much more beautiful than I was able to capture with this picture. It is on the way to West Boylston from Holden. It's, again, by a beautiful old farmhouse. It sits by a tiny pond and seems like something out of Tolkien. Unfortunately, its is absolutely surrounded by poison Ivy. You can see a bit of on the tree to the left. I think its growing all over the big tree too! I guess my memory of it was really from the Fall. At any rate, I guess sitting under its "lofty bows" and reading a good book is out of the question.


Well, there ya go. A big collection of trees.... big exciting life of mine huh? Still, they are beautiful and will remain so far after you and I are gone. Trees. :)


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