One Tree, Two Moons

    When you see my drawing, the first thing you notice is that there are two girls.  People ask me, "Which one are you?"  I can't really answer that question.  I drew this tree keeping in mind that the girl on the left represent me, but I wouldn't say that she is I.  She represents a lot of others as well, as does the girl on the right.  It just happens that her story fits mine.  It might fit yours as well.  Who knows.

    Last year, a very good friend of mine that I had just known for the school year moved to Florida.   She wasn't too happy about it.  But this reminded me of another friend.  I had a good friend back in my first grade.  Her name was Sasha.  At the playground in my old school, there was a very large tree - or it just seemed big to us at the time, and we would always play near it.  Sasha was the one who got me into nature.  We would always be near the tree at recess time, talking about eating leaves, climbing trees, "making" bird nests with twigs.  I think that she was the one who really gave me creativity.  It sounds funny, but we would always try to control the wind with our hands.  I liked her very much as a friend and probably more than she liked me.   But at the end of the year, she proudly declared that she was going to move.  The whole class made her goodbye cards.  She kept talking about how excited she was to move and how she couldn't wait any longer.  I tried to be happy for her too, but honestly, I was sad.  I hope that she has found another tree where she is living now and that she will learn from it as I learned from the tree in that playground.

  This tree represents my relationship with my friend in first grade, the one I has last year, and all my other friends that have been washed away in my life.  I hope that no matter how faded they become, they will always have a place in my heart, and that this tree will always remind me of their kindness and generosity.

House Near the Mountains

This is a wood project.  I used a Vice Versa burning tool and acrylic paint.

Nature diary #7

6.30.2011

The Perfect Home

         Today I keep seeing a chickadee of some sort that keeps going into a hole in the tree and coming out with small strips of wood in its beak.  It drops the wood onto the ground and continues going into the hole.

          I figure that it is trying to make the space in the hole bigger so tat it can build a nest in there.

          By the end of the day, piles of woodchips are scattered on the sidewalk...I wonder how it would be like to live in a place like that--especially if I were a bird.  I suppose that it would be more adequate and sheltering than the classical nest on the fork of a branch.  Then again, it might be more stuffy.

          I really do wonder sometimes...

Breeze

As the yellow warbler chirps softly
In the cool morning air

As the light wind blows gently
between the trees

As the airy day fades pass slowly
with the sun

We don't mind what awaits us
Just what is Here

Picture

Along the seam of the precipice
Awaiting us with its ocean-like
grass
and sky
Raving with glory, blue with debt.

Sits a crow
Eyes as deep as eternity itself
and an old tree
Gnarled from knowledge but
happy

They all smile:
O' tree, crow, cliff, and sky
It seems as if
They all like the company

Arnold Arboretum

Last Saturday, I went to Harvard Arnold Arboretum. I had lots of fun there. I learned about the Black Walnuts and I participated in an activity called letter-boxing.

Did you know that black walnuts were once widely used as writing ink? To make black walnut ink find some black walnuts that have already started rotting. When black walnuts rot, they turn dark brown. put these walnuts in water. Leave them there for one day. The water will turn very dark. Boil this water and you will have ink!

Do you know what some people do when they see a healthy and mature walnut tree? They pull it out and sell it! Some black walnut trees have sold for 5 thousand or more dollars! Why do they sell so well? Walnut trees have an unique and beautiful original color.

This is what the black walnut looks like when it just falls to the ground. (These things are hard! Make sure one doesn't fall on you![laugh!] )


These are what the Black Walnuts look like when they are starting to rot. Many nuts we eat are part of the walnut family called Juglandaceae in Latin. The black walnut is called Juglans Nigra in Latin.


This walnut tree was struck by lightning. You can tell.


This is a grove of six walnut trees. Five of these were started from seed in 1874.

Arnold arboretum also is a great place to explore nature and have a picnic. You should go there as well!