Tag Archives: trees

Healthy, yet?

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For years I lived in the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula and the Bosphor. For years I lived in Switzerland, the Berner Oberland, Jungfrau Region.

The Middle East was always short of mature well formed trees…for various reasons–not native to the Arabian Peninsula and too heavily human populated–all trees cut up or cut down on the Bosphor.

But in Switzerland, the Berner Oberland, Jungfrau Region human population is low and trees are native.

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This isn’t a golf course. This is pastureland abutting a forest. Humans have been managing this landscape, with local records dating back over 700 years. And this is the result. I love it. I feel at ease, peaceful when viewing this landscape because of the pleasing shape of mature trees…for me, it is the hard work of stewardship–taking care of forests and pastures. Sweet!

 

Tree

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Every so often something makes me take a photo–something?

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Walnut tree–Juglans nigra

Is it my eyes, is it my heart, is it paranormal?

I don’t know. But Alfred Joyce Kilmer wrote, in his poem ‘Trees’:

I think that I shall never see 

A poem as lovely as a tree.

My photos may not be technically the best but they do have my heart in them. And I love living in the Swiss Highlands because such simple things as the beauty of a tree have become embedded in their culture for all to appreciate.

A few years back, I posted a story here entitled ‘Landscapeyness’. The title was not so accurate related to its content about trees and culture in the Swiss Highlands. The following image shares the flavor.

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Forest, animals, people, nurture, rest, music, landscape…

The artwork is called Schnerenschnit.

Trees Telling Forests Things

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Can’t tell the forest from the trees. Or is it the other way around–can’t tell the trees from the forest. Can’t tell. 

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Can’t tell the trees from the trunk and branches.

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Can’t tell the trunk and branches from the leaves.

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Can’t tell the leaves from the needles and cones.

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Can’t tell anything…I’m lost…and happy…don’t tell.

 

Trees…

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…can you hear them…

…and green meadows…who can not love them?

Oscar Hammerstein II, said that in the 1950s when he wrote the lyrics for the musical, The Sound of Music.

The title song has these simple lyrics. “The hills are alive.” Think about it. The hills are alive…with what?

He wrote, “with the sound of music.”

No, not the music written by Richard Rodgers…but their own music. “The songs they have sung for thousands of years.”

Think about that because that is what anyone can feel when they visit these hills. These hills are alive with the sound of music. These hills will let you ride on the sound of their music. It is real.

And Hammerstein finished with:

“I go to the hills when my heart is lonely,

I know I will hear what I’ve heard before

My heart will be blessed with the sound of music

And I´ll sing once more.”

Happy New Year, all. 🙂

The Gnomist

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLoBWpiOczQ?rel=0&w=640&h=360]
Sharon Liese directed and produced the above video, The Gnomist.

Made me think about plants, trees, forests, landscapes…and how human access to them can occur on so many levels–physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual–amazing.

Shouldn’t every city have these gnome ecosystems within a ten minute walk from everyone’s front door? Why not?

Dreams, aspirations…realities…take the journey.