62- TREES.......

"I never knew the full value of trees. Under them I breakfast, dine, write, read, and receive my company." (Thomas Jefferson)

When one tree is unnecessarily cut, it seems to me like the beginnings of a forest are forever gone. This historian has developed a 'thang' for trees! As a child growing up in the country in sight of a small town, would take a gunny sack full of pine cones, a small pick and head out, walking, about the nearby hills, dig a quick hole, drop a cone in and cover. After college, remembered to drive by on the same country roads...there were tall pine trees everywhere!
It's totally fascinating that one tiny acorn can grow to become a huge, magnificent spreading white oak, with that growth slowly taking ever so long. It's also fascinating, in a completely different direction, that within a matter of minutes that same century-old white oak can be cut, and it's very life severed forever.
Does a tree understand?
If you ever venture to the Colonial Capital of Virginia, Williamsburg, mosey (neat word) over to the old Courthouse of 1770, and the first Court House Green, and eye that huge, spreading oak.
Like a little secret, on that same visit? In the 1940s, to keep modern traffic away from the Restored Area of Colonial Williamsburg, a road tunnel was dug, tunnel put in place and covered back up with soil. The Colonial Parkway, therefore, actually runs under the ground through that Restored Area...by that old Court House. Shhh...if you walk over near the Stocks and Pillory, in the grass near that Court House, you'll find a large round metal cover. If you lean over, you can hear the busy traffic below! There was a ladder down there for escaping in case a problem developed, like the Russians coming. "The Russians are coming...the Russians are coming!"

Do YOU have a fave kind of tree?
This sociologist and naturalist created a special program called T.A.T., "Trees Are Timeless", to recognize the efforts of individuals and groups who openly value TREES, especially in what we call a "NO Cut!" zone..."Give me a live, growing tree, and I'll give you a breath of fresh air around yourself!"