Trees

As a child I didn't pay any attention to trees..........they were there. Now there was an apple tree in my Nana and Da's back yard that was just wonderful. It wasn't a climbing tree, but it gave the most wonderful shade in the summer........good shade. Oh many an afternoon playing dolls, sleeping in the hammock with one of my grandparents, playing cowboys and Indians. I remember one horrible night, sitting on my Nana's lap, a nor'easter turning hurricane blowing in, looking out the den window as my Mother drove up the hill to go to work at the telephone company........CRACK, noooo CRACK

Lightning hit that apple tree and shook the earth like a child has never felt it shake..........I remember looking at my Nana.....as scared as she was she just started laughing........the look on my face must have been one to behold. Yes, I guess in my own way I did appreciate that tree, just didn't realize it.

Fast forward a few years........Michigan. Oh Michigan has trees, those beautiful maples are a thing to behold .

These mighty trees gave me more shade as a child........remember I can't be out in the sun for a long time........zoom, dehydration and out I go........yup even as a kid! The neighborhood kids and I would put picnic tables together and we would head out west on a wagon train. Now it is muggy in Michigan, my goodness there are lakes everywhere............everywhere. Now did this mugginess stop us from putting old woolen army blankets over the picnic tables and hanging from the low branches of the maples to make tents, cabins.........you name it. It was lucky that none of us died from lack of air!!!!! Of course we are the same kids that rode bikes without helmets, roller skated in the streets without helmets, knee and elbow pads and didn't even know what a seat belt was! Sigh, sorry took a brief detour there. Across the street, there was a tree that had low limbs. The most amazing thing tho' is there were just enough limbs for ALL of us to sit on alone and ride horses, play like we were fairies and whatever else we imagined that day. We moved into a new subdivision and NO TREES...........what a shock. We went back to our old neighborhood and dug up little saplings (?).........they took............a few years ago I went back to Michigan and found those trees.........they are huge. I wanted to go up and knock on the door of the owners and tell them how we dug the hole, babied and pampered those little twigs of trees and how I was happy that they had survived.........I didn't, but I wanted to.

Wyoming...........ok, I lived in the area of Wyoming that is called the grasslands..............remember ole' Kevin Costner riding across the plains with his arms wide open in "Dancing with Wolves"? Yup, no trees.........I mean it was a shock........then we moved closer to the South Dakota border and were at the very edge of what is called the Black Hills.

Yes, the hills do actually look black, because of the density of the trees........it's just beautiful.

Now I am in Texas............and I have fallen in love with the oak. I truly believe that oak trees are one of the most imaginative trees ever. They don't grow straight........nope, they each have a distinct character of their own..........look.

Look, it's like each one has it's own story.........or they could be some mystical magical creatures in a fairy tale or Harry Potter movie. I am just in love with them. They are everywhere........when I first moved here, I was talking to a friend and said "I went to a mall today." She asked which one............I was just quiet.............shoot almost every mall in this area is "Oak" something..............and that was my reply........"Hmmmm, it was oak something!"............don't think that helped her out a whole lot.

I have no idea why I am going on and on about trees.........I guess having lived for so long without them, that I do truly appreciate them now. Amen.......

Smile, I just have to look out the windows and look at the oaks and a smile appears.........of course I am also making up stories about them too.........