Back on November 11th, I was all set to get this reminder of a childhood tree post done on both my WordPress and Hive blogs, since this is a bloghop hosted by my WP blogging friend and it was supposed to be the next edition. However, not too long before I was ready to publish it, I noticed that she updated the description to say the next one would go live today (November 25th). Which actually worked out beautifully for me, since I saved it for today, which also happens to be Thanksgiving Day in the states. So I’m extra thankful to have a post ready to go so I can spend more holiday time with my family – thanks, Parul!
But before I get started, a quick shout out to my aforementioned WordPress blogging friend to say thank you for hosting this awesome blog hop (mostly) every couple of weeks. If you want to join in the Tree love blog hop fun, it’s wicked easy – here’s the description from her latest post, called #ThursdayTreeLove – 118:
Thursday Tree love is a photo feature hosted on this blog on every 2nd and 4th Thursday of a month. The next edition will go live on December 9, 2021. If you would like to play along, post a picture of a tree on your blog, tell me where did you spot the tree and link it back to this post.
If you don’t see the pingback, please leave a link to your post in my comments section. Please make sure that your post’s link is showing up on this latest edition. I will link your posts on my blog in the next edition and spread some love. Let’s come together to appreciate the beautiful nature around us.
And in her previous post, she put forth a request that I thought was wicked awesome. She said –
From now on, I will make an honest attempt to share trees that show you a slice of my life. Can you do that too? I would love to know you more along with your trees.
As for these photos, as per my usual FYI – these were taken in the yard of my Durham, NH home with my Nikon, attached to my tripod. All were resized, then cleaned up a bit with PicMonkey – mostly the exposure and sharpness, but with a few other tweaks like vignette filters for the corners here and there.
Now on with the photos…
Reminder of a childhood tree
1. When I was a little girl (like, still in single digits), I truly believed in magic. I fed this belief with a steady diet of fairy tales and a slightly overactive imagination, to the point that I was convinced for a short time that a tree in our backyard had magical properties. While that tree is sadly long gone (cleared out after my parents moved, to make room for a new house), there is a tree in my current backyard that brought back strong memories of my childhood tree the first time I saw it. This is how that tree (just a little to the left of the center of the frame) looks looked on October 11th, 2021.
2. While it doesn’t seem all that tall, compared to the trees around it…
3. … it has a very large presence.
4. It’s been too many years since I saw my childhood tree from this perspective, but I remember the same vibe of looking almost human like, with outstretched arms/branches welcoming you as a friend.
5. I remember many times being upset about something, and retreating into what I considered “the woods” in our backyard (which now as an adult, I realize was more like a scattering of trees, given how little space there was at the edge of the less-than-a-quarter acre lot that was our backyard).
6. I would sit under the tree and whisper all my woes to it.
7. I believed someone or something was listening to my words and offering sympathy to my wounded heart. I remember feeling I had friends all around me that I just couldn’t see.
8. Did I mention my overactive imagination? LOL! In my defense, the tree did nothing to try to convince me otherwise – in fact, just the opposite.
9. I very distinctly remember a day that I was sitting under the tree, bemoaning yet another injustice to my tender ego, when I noticed a glint of cobalt blue on the ground near me.
10. I quickly dug it out and discovered a small blue jar with a rusty metal lid. If I recall correctly, the lid identified it as some sort of ant… not poison (because I’d like to think I’d have had the sense not to open the jar), but some sort of deterrent? Which didn’t make sense to me at the time, as the jar seemed to just be filled with more of the same dirt it was buried in. Regardless, I felt the tree had given to me a very special magical gift.
11. Which brings me back again to this tree in my current backyard. Looking at how strongly it has grown from a ground filled with granite boulders, it seems to be proof that magic is real.
12. And who’s to say there aren’t really some magical folk living in the woods? Maybe, as W.B. Yeats said, it is just a case of, “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
13. Some fifty odd years later, I still believe in magic (and still own that blue jar). It might not be in the form of my childhood fantasy, but I know it’s real. And I’m thankful for the moments when I can retreat into the woods behind our house and be reminded again.
14. And just before I hit publish on this, I decided to clean up the aforementioned jar (after I dug through the dust and clutter on my desk to find it) and take a picture of it. I included a penny to give an idea of the size – and even more special, the penny I also dragged out of the disaster area that passes as my work space, turned out to be from the year I graduated high school, and has a shamrock stamped on it (I joked with my husband that at some point, we probably paid a dollar to buy a lucky penny…lol). But now that newly cleaned & shiny penny is living inside this jar, and there’s a new (albeit small) clean space in my life.
Thanks again for such a cool idea to share a slice of our lives with our tree photos, Parul!
Happy Thursday Tree Love everyone, and to those who are celebrating it today, Happy Thanksgiving!
How much I loved reading about your childhood memories and your attachment with trees. Such a lovely slice of life, Traci. Your stories warmed my heart. Thank you so much! See you tomorrow.
There’s so much I relate to in this post: retreating to the woods behind my house, the quote about magical things waiting for our wits to grow sharper (one of my favorites) and the blue glass jar like the ones I collect and put in my windows. I love all the photos, especially the one of the tree with “outstretched arms/branches welcoming you as a friend.”
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Love – Love – Love!
I loved this post! Yes, there does seem to be a certain type of magic about certain trees. 🙂
How much I loved reading about your childhood memories and your attachment with trees. Such a lovely slice of life, Traci. Your stories warmed my heart. Thank you so much! See you tomorrow.
Such a lovely Tree friend Traci! Magical or not, it succeeded in calming you. Enjoy the forest and let it weave it’s magic !!!
There’s so much I relate to in this post: retreating to the woods behind my house, the quote about magical things waiting for our wits to grow sharper (one of my favorites) and the blue glass jar like the ones I collect and put in my windows. I love all the photos, especially the one of the tree with “outstretched arms/branches welcoming you as a friend.”