Trees...Waiting for the Next Season

While rambling on a recent unusually cold Saturday afternoon, I discovered these trees in silhouette against a wintry sky.  I recall a time when I saw leafless trees as stark, ugly.  When autumn leaves begin to fall, I feel a certain sadness, wishing we could hold on to those coats of many colors and the wonderful sensory delights of crunching through sunshiny-colored leaves.  But as with all living things, there are seasons, and each has its own beauty.

I think of wintertime trees as "tree bones."  As spring approaches, those "bones" will begin to sprout leaves with a shade of green only seen in early spring.  Some will produce blossoms and eventually bear fruit.  Most will provide hideaways for nesting birds and squirrels.  Hammocks will be hung between trees, bird feeders will welcome our feathered friends.  An occasional snake may sun itself on a branch.  Some kids will "skin the cat," as my grandma used to call it, on lower limbs, and others will hold secret club meetings on high branches out of the sight of probably disapproving adults (and hopefully not on a branch with the above-mentioned napping snake).  Perhaps a treehouse will sprout for a lucky kiddo and I suspect you can spot many tire swings hanging from sturdy horizontal limbs, especially in the country. Cats will leap onto and scurry up many a tree just in time to escape a pursuing dog.  Speaking of dogs, we know what they do to trees.  In the woods, I bet there are bears scratching their backs on trees, as I've seen cows do on low-hanging tree limbs in pastures.  And of course, there are trees that ultimately become Christmas trees, and one a year will go to the White House.

We are blessed to live in the middle of acres and acres of wonderful trees, some deciduous, some conifers.  If trees could tell us stories...just imagine!

Why not plant a tree or two this spring, maybe ones that will provide shade for you on a summer afternoon. A lounge chair, a book, a little shade from a nice tree...priceless.

Til next time ~~~