Watching nature take its course

"no tree in the garden of God was like it in beauty"

Ezekiel 31:8

There's a tree in my backyard.  Actually, there are several.  Flowering plum, palm, eucalyptus, a rubber tree plant, and something that might be kumquat.  Or persimmon.  It put out fruit the first summer we lived in this house, but then never again.

And of course, our apple tree.  What a gift.  I'm not much of a gardener, so to have a tree that blossoms and fruits every year is a joy to me.  It's a gift, because if I had planted it, it wouldn't still be alive, but because it was here when we got here, it was already well-established.

I'll be honest, though, my favorite tree is in the front yard.  Out there, we have something that might be a sycamore, but it's too young to tell.  We also have two quaking aspens and a beautiful red ash.  That one's my favorite, though I'm not really sure why.  It's tall and beautiful.  And ash is what baseball bats have been made from for many years.  I love baseball.  Baseball is history, and tradition, and simplicity to me.  So I think that the tree feels like America to me.

So, okay, there's my tree recital for ya.  God bless Joyce Kilmer, right?

But now there's a new tree, and it's in my backyard.  It's a Nordmann fir, and yes, it used to be our Christmas tree.  I think this year's was the most beautiful tree we ever had, and I was just reluctant to get rid of it.   So instead of cramming it into the greens-recycle can, or leaving it on the curb for city to pick up, we moved it to our backyard.  Lost a fair number of needles in the process, but oh well!

So there it sits, right where I can see it from the living room.  And I think it's still so beautiful, especially when the sun is setting, casting a sort of candle-glow effect to the tree.  It looks lovely in the rain, too.

The Apple of my Eye thinks the tree is just, well, dead.  Said to me just this weekend, "So, what's the story with this tree?  Are we just gonna leave it here until it disintegrates?"  And I said happily, "Yup!"  Even though I'll be slowly watching it die ~ well, even further than it's already dead ~ I will enjoy that.  It's just sort of nature being nature, ya know?  Doin' what it's supposed to do, or circle of life or something, you know?

This tree is being who it is.  No pretense.  No trying to impress anyone.  Sun, wind and rain taking their toll, the green becoming less green, needles falling off... it's all what God had in mind, I'm just getting to watch this year.  And I'm finding a great deal of joy in the beauty.

 ~ "the birds of the heavens have their home;

they sing among the branches" ~

Psalm 104:12 

~