A look back

A final taste of some trees from this past spring. Next...moving into delicious autumn! I get chills just thinking about it.

**YOUR TREES** [Jamie and Keith's crazy tree sighting]

It's delightful when I hear that friends, family, or even strangers think of me when they see a fantastic, weird, funny, or beautiful tree. Several of you have sent photos or at least stories my way and it truly makes my day. I need to be better about posting them. I plan to go back through my emails and put more of them on the blog.

This one made my awesome brother and sister-in-law think of me immediately. Because look at it!! So kooky and adorable and funny and straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. Which is quite possibly my favorite kind. I don't remember where it was taken (and I certainly don't know the oblivious folks who have been immortalized in the background)...but here it is. A fabulous tree. Tall and twisty and skinny, complete with a goofy hair-do.

Thanks for sending!

Tree Museum! And other tree works by Katie Holten

Terrific discovery of the day: A "Tree Museum" that is also a public art project!! How incredibly perfect. So, of course, sometime between now and October 12th I'll be heading up to the Bronx to listen to the trees. And then I'll share my discoveries.

Here's what I know. The Tree Museum is a public art project by artist Katie Holten, who seems to be at least as enamored with trees and art as I am. Perhaps more so. Her work ranges from drawings to installation art to public projects involving living plants. Her work addresses the themes of "permanence, disappearance and environment" and she is interested in "how people make sense of and cope with their surroundings" (see LMAKprojects).

Here are some examples of her works that involve trees, of course:


New York Trees I


Trees of the U.S.A. III


Paths of Desire


Ghost Forest

A tree falls in Brooklyn

It's a sad day on my block. Some stupid beer truck backed into one of the beloved trees across the street, knocking off a huge tree-sized branch and chunk of the tree. Leaves and branches fell all over, stopping traffic, and then some work men arrived with chain saws to finish the job. Now it is a soggy, sawdusty stump. Though, if you ask George, who works at Mailboxes on 5th (which is the shop the tree used to live in front of) it wasn't the beer truck's fault. The truck has been backing up in that exact location for years and years. But the heavy rain made the branch sag, which made the tree lean, which made the branch sag even lower.

George knows these things. Blame it on the rain.

Actually, I've recently realized that an even more beloved tree is gone. The one that used to live more directly across the street. It must have happened the day my building may-or-may-not-have-been hit by lightning. We heard/felt an extremely loud boom at the same time we saw a flash...and the next thing we knew, we saw branches in the street. I just realized the tree is completely gone. This one makes me even sadder. It was just out front of Happy Cleaners. So pretty. Fluffy white in the spring. We had just one lovely spring together. I'm hoping these trees have become mulch and will help other urban trees to survive and flourish. Here are some photos to mourn our loss. (Pink arrows indicate our fallen friends.)