WELCOME! Welcome, tree-lovers, friends and strangers to the 16th Festival of the Trees, the monthly blog carnival for all things arboreal.
Every year, right about now, my dad likes to say:
"I like fall, the leaves and all."
Ah. Me too. I LOVE this time of year. It thrills me to the bones to smell the crisp air, feel the chill on a perfectly clear brilliant day and hear the crunch of leaves under my feet. And the trees! How amazing that we are surrounded by such color in nature.
Ok...I'm jumping the gun a little. It's only October 2nd, and in North Carolina most of the trees are still green (see the above photo). But autumn in all it's splendor is just around the corner in this part of the world...
So let's watch as the season changes, and the the green earth fades to color...
Let's start with a simple haiku and a colorless tree. Kevin at Rural Cemetery Movements shares a fantastic line drawing at Five Falling Leaves and the season begins to change.
If you're up for a majestic hike in the Pacific Northwest, Marja-Leena Rathje can take you there, to the forests of Vancouver's backyard. It's a wonderful world where the trees are tall or soft and peaceful. The trees are still green here. Explore more of her art and writing here.
Speaking of being Green...It's not easy, especially in the city. But the trees grow on...season after season, and they just adapt and change as necessary.
Karen at Rurality spent a weekend here, at Shiloh National Military Park looking for artifacts and pondering the history of the trees on the battlefield. My favorite are the "Two big Water Oaks near the Visitor's center." Imagine how colorful they'll be in a month or so!
Windywillow has shared a beautiful tribute to her favorite tree - the calming and mysterious Willow. You can enjoy her photos as well as a lovely video clip of willows blowing in the wind. Enchanting!
A thank you to Paul Lester (and the Chinese philosopher) for a thought about the "Usefulness" of trees. Lovely photography. And thanks to Maria for the reflection on the "Pricelessness" of trees.
And now a word about Black Walnuts and Burma. Dave at Via Negativa discusses the far corners of the world and the season change in his own back yard - in the form of Black Walnuts thumping on the roof. And frizzyLogic has some beautiful photos of "conkers," or horse chestnuts (for those Americans who've never heard of a "conker" - myself included). This seems to be the season for nuts, for the WildWoodsWoman has been shoveling acorns off the ground. All this talk about nuts reminds me of one of my favorite childhood trees...the hickory tree in front of our house that got chopped down when the road was widened. So sad. Ah well. Seasons change...
Speaking of seasons changing, Wren of Wrenaissance Reflections takes a moment to remember trees of the past. Notice all the new life surrounding these past trees! And in New Jersey, this is the season of mushrooms. John at A DC Birding Blog spotted some fantastic fungi, clinging to a tree past.
Tall Girl, at Smoke and Ash has witnessed a curious autumn ritual (of sorts) here. She saw some extraordinary trees on a lunchtime walk, as she climbed "nearer to the sky."
Jade Blackwater of Arboreality, gives us a first glimpse of autumn at Tobyhanna. Finally some color! And now autumn, or "The Changeling" slowly begins to "work his magic" through the poetic words of Beloved Dreamer.
And for some real fall color, check out a few gorgeous Flickr sets that I happened upon:
Here and here. The second is autumn in a Japanese garden, and I can't think of a more gorgeous setting for photographs. The set has some breathtaking trees.
And lastly, three of my favorite things in the world are trees, tea, and clay and they are combined here in an amazing ceramic gallery that I've just discovered (Thanks, Mom!).
Well that's it for this month's festival!
Thank you all for your submissions and suggestions. Next month Windywillow will be hosting the Festival of the Trees. Please send your creepy tree-related submissions to: silviasalix (at) yahoo (dot) co (dot) uk. (The deadline is Oct. 26, to give Silvia time to prepare a special Halloween edition!). If you have any questions, you will probably find answers here.
Here's to the trees!
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12 comments:
what wonderful inspiration...all the red and yellow leaves seem to be blowing off their branches this morning, but some of your pictures soothed the storm. Thanks!
Thanks for doing such a great job with this month's inspiring links, Karen.
Thank you for a great festival!
What a wonderful tribute to trees! As we are both in North Carolina, I hope to meet you some day! I'm in Charlotte.
Thanks for including my entry!
I do not understand the purpose of the festival. I keep send nature poems about trees and yet I never see them. Is just a photo thing. I paint pictures in words. Does anyone remember how to READ?
This is the end for me. At least thank an artist-poet for trying......
-bd
http://beloveddreamer.blogspot.com
Thanks, all! Beloved Dreamer - don't give up on the festival! Poems are very welcome. This is the first time I've seen your blog address. (Make sure that when you submit, you send a permalink to one of your posts, rather than the text of a poem). I've added a link to one of your lovely poems in the festival.
Next month is a Halloween theme, so perhaps you have a creepy or tragic poem?
Karen, so sorry it was my own fault. I was rather cranky that day and as you can see left out some words.
From now on I will link my poem. Looking forward to #17
love-bd
I like your blog. I like everything about trees.
Good Job! :)
I love trees. These are great pictures. Besides their rol of "oxygen giver" they also havean aesthetic rol when we plant them around our homes, or gardens.
This is just stunning and I LOVE IT !! Amazing pictures... It is an honor to see and read this
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