As it’s the first of the month, it’s time for another theme day for the city daily photo blogs. This month’s theme is “Waiting”, and I decided to be a bit abstract this time. This photo, taken 2 days ago in Queen’s Park, shows Glasgow in the thick of cold winter. I am waiting for summer, and the trees are waiting for their new leaves. I think we’ll all be waiting a while

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

I was in a wintery mood today, although I live in Florida and we never get snow. With these past 5 days off from the day job, maybe I’ve gone coo coo or should I say penguin? I’ve got some new printable greetings in the Shop and I whipped up a FREEBIE printable holiday card for you…AND a desktop complete with December 2009 calendar! The cards print one-up on an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet, trim and fold to 5″ x 7″. Cards fit a standard A7 envelope. Desktop is 1680 x 1050. Check out the Freebies tab for more penguins (iron ons), a lovely Winter Pomegranate Scrub recipe with printable tag and some printable Gift Tags. (for PCs right click images below or option click for Macs)

FREE printable greeting card

FREE desktop with calendar

free printables not for commercial use, personal use only.

[artwork © Aimee Elizabeth McEwen]

     "For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfil themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. And every young farmboy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal trees grow.
     Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.
     A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life. The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark. I was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail.
     A tree says: My strength is trust. I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else. I trust that God is in me. I trust that my labor is holy. Out of this trust I live.
When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Let God speak within you, and your thoughts will grow silent. You are anxious because your path leads away from mother and home. But every step and every day lead you back again to the mother. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all.
     A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening. If one listens to them silently for a long time, this longing reveals its kernel, its meaning. It is not so much a matter of escaping from one’s suffering, though it may seem to be so. It is a longing for home, for a memory of the mother, for new metaphors for life. It leads home. Every path leads homeward, every step is birth, every step is death, every grave is mother.
     So the tree rustles in the evening, when we stand uneasy before our own childish thoughts: Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy. Whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness."
— Hermann Hesse

Last week, the two huge oaks outside my bedroom window finally received their long deferred pruning.  The morning sun, once hidden from my sleeping eyes, now pokes its nose into my room much too early.  Here there are, standing silent, at the other end of the day. 

charleston cemeteries, south carolina, originally uploaded by minervacat.

I spent most of the weekend behind Six, who is newly back from Nikon with a working CPU and a freshly cleaned sensor, and it was brutally hard to go to work this morning.

Chantilly forest - Lonely path of Fall

Chantilly has lots of great hilly areas and a cute forest, I am told. I didn’t get to see much of that as it was grey, rainy and all the leaves had fallen.

But I did see this path out of the forest that I found interesting. I swear I didn’t photoshop that person in the picture and it’s him/her that makes all the difference. I like the lonely feel that it gives the picture and the bridge in the foreground is nice too.

It’s HDR and I retouched it in Lightroom to make it a little more dramatic. And while I don’t find it amazing since all the branches make it a little messy, I like the long path and whoever that person is (thanks to him/her for being there at the right time).

Details:  Aperture: f/8  –  Exposure: 1/4 sec  -  Focal lengths: 18mm  -  Iso: 100

I was standing on a playground near Rock Creek Park, nestled up against the woods. It was mid-day, and the sun was bright, casting yellow light on bright green leaves everywhere. I slowly turned to my left, and standing nearby in a copse of leafy trees was an imposing horned figure, his face in shadow. His horns or antlers arched high above his head, and he was draped in a blood-red robe of come kind. Seeing him, there was a half-second of hang time, of total silence, and then his presence pushed so powerfully on me that it shoved me out of my dream and into wakefulness. It was like a psychic hand-grenade went off when I looked at him.

Who was he? Pan? Cernunnos? Herne? Some other horned god? What does he want from me? Why did he show himself to me?

Last week, Bartlett Tree Experts began work to prune one tree and perform their Root RX on ten additional trees at this square which just celebrated its 100 anniversary as a park in June.

One of the treated trees with the completed Root RX work

Root Rx involves using an airspade to break the soil 6 inches down and ten feet out from the trunk, add compost and then a 4-6 inch layer of new mulch.  The purpose is to de-compact the critical root zone and gives each of these heritage trees a chance to promote new root growth.  We did this work at Republic Square on each of the three Auction Oaks there and it has had a tremendous effect.    We also have a similiar project at Brush Square for the big Oak Tree between the O Henry and Susanna Dickinson Houses there.

Close up of a treated Oak

Four more trees need to be done and there’s also some additional soil treatments to be completed.

My dad and I went out scouting for new trees today. I kind of consider myself a treehugger, but when I was out wrapping orange tape around the trunk of large trees, I doubted that particular classification. But then I thought about other sources of heat, such as mining coal or natural gas. And I thought about the only thing that really keeps me warm in the winter-sitting by the fire. We aren’t going out and clear cutting our forest. We have 40 acres of trees, and if we collect firewood carefully, it really is a sustainable operation.

Our mission was to find dead standing trees that were suitable for use this year, as well as live trees that we could cut down this year, split next year, and burn the following year. There are so many different elements involved in selectively cutting trees. Things to look for include the texture and type of tree and the location of the tree (closeness to the road and to other trees). It is also important to know if the tree is dead or alive, and whether something is currently living in or eating the tree. We carefully looked at all of these factors with every tree that we banded.

The variety of tree is very important when choosing trees to cut for firewood. Every type of tree has a different character. More ashes, less ashes, higher heat (BTU), easier to light, etc, etc. Some woods even smell better than others, which does actually make a difference. There is a great chart that outlines the specifics on burning different hardwoods on the website Demense. Great if you are collecting or buying firewood. We have been harvesting mostly oak, hickory, and locust. We leave the walnuts, as they have lower BTUs, and create a lot of ash! And if the wood is mostly limb wood it will burn well, but because there is a higher ratio of bark to wood you will get a lot more ash. The limb wood is great for starting a fire though!

Looking up to the sky tells a big part of the story. It is important to pick trees that are crowded in, have less of a chance to reach sunlight, and are leaning heavily and or awkwardly. The hickory in the images above and below is leaning significantly to the right. When we cut it, the space will open up for the surrounding trees to grow. According to my dad we are speeding up the clock a little. Taking down trees that are more likely to die sooner anyway.

Below is another example of trees that are crowded. The tree on the bottom of the image below is banded to be cut for future use. It has grown underneath the rest of the trees, and is growing almost sideways at the top. The tree is still alive, but not getting as much sunlight as the surrounding trees. The tree on the right is a dead tree, also banded to be used this fall. Once these trees are removed, the sky will open up, and the surrounding trees will have more of a chance to grow and expand their canopies.

Another important factor is the path for the tree to fall. When you chop down a huge tree, there is always a chance that it will take some of the surrounding trees with it. It is better to find a path for the tree to fall that doesn’t wreak major havoc on the surrounding trees. And since we are felling these trees for firewood, it is important to have a good access point for the truck so that we can winch the trees out with relative ease.

Back to type of wood. We tested the dead standing trees by chopping away at them with an axe. If they had a nice ring to them, the trees were solid, and good for firewood. We wrapped these trees with two bands of orange tape to indicate that they were ready for use this fall. (We didn’t start the double wrap until after this tree..) Dead trees are ready to cut, split and use right away.

The single band wrap was for trees that are to be cut this year and used later. Trees that are cut alive, or green, take about a year to dry out, and then they are ready to be sliced into rounds and split. It is okay to cut the green wood, but it is difficult to split it because of all the moisture present in the cells. The plan that we have come up with is to cut the tree one year, cut and split it the next, and then burn it the following year. That way the firewood is given a chance to cure, and is great for burning!

It is important to leave dead trees for wildlife too. Ants, beetles, birds, squirrels, raccoons, mushrooms, etc. need homes and food too. We left rotton trees, or trees that had a lot of evidence of animal life alone. There were some trees up for debate here, but we didn’t end up with too much of a feud (for now anyway).

The above tree is home to a whole colony of puffball mushrooms. This picture is only one of the stumps in the small area that is covered with puffballs. They seemed to have taken over. All the trees were elm, and I have always looked for morel mushrooms under dead elm trees, so there might be a connection here as well.

Unexpectedly high mortality of Eastern Red Cedar has been observed this spring and summer across parts of Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas. The underlying cause has been difficult to pin down, but these state summaries reveal some common features.

Missouri: Initial field visits showed that some trees in Columbia and Piedmont, Mo., were infected with Heterobasidion annosum. In areas with annosum root rot, the disease appeared to follow a typical root disease pattern with an identifiable “center” and damage spreading outward. Visits to the Kansas City and Kirksville, Mo. areas, showed no sign of root disease, and attempts to consistently isolate pathogenic fungi from affected trees proved inconclusive. Most eastern red cedar mortality reports from northern and western Missouri have been from the Kansas City and St. Joseph areas. The typical symptom was a relatively healthy tree that turned olive green and then completely brown within two weeks. Basal cankers, collar rots, or root rots were not observed on most trees. Trees tended to be randomly distributed. Affected windbreak trees seemed to be growing in soil similar in structure, aspect, drainage, and compaction to that of healthy trees. In general, mortality did not appear to be spreading to neighboring trees. Most affected cedars have been fairly young (5 to 20 years old) in both planted windbreaks and natural stands. A relatively low percentage of trees are actually affected in most property situations (i.e., less than 1 percent), but some properties have higher mortality rates (i.e., up to 5 percent). Most trees died early this spring, but red cedars are still dying, according to reports from north-central Missouri. The only consistency found in affected trees was the presence of extremely high numbers of bark beetles. Bark beetle infestations may be the eventual cause of death, but something else is suspected to have caused them to attack apparently healthy trees.

Northeast Kansas: Mortality has affected primarily windbreak trees, generally with less than 5 percent of trees affected on any given site. The condition showed up in late April/early May as off color and defoliation. Trees were dead within a couple of weeks. Excavated root systems look healthy, with no pathogens identified. Abiotic causes are suspected.

Iowa: in late April, Iowa Department of Natural Resources received reports of eastern red cedar and white cedar (arborvitae) declining statewide. Symptomatic trees started out healthy, turned pale green, and completely browned by the second week in May (in about a 2-weeks). The decline has continued to be reported within the state. Several fungal infections have been identified on declining trees including Pestalotia twig blight (Pestalotiopsis spp.), Berckmann’s blight (Seimatosporium berckmanssii), Phomopsis twig blight (Phomopsis juniperovora), and Kabatina blight (Kabatina juniperi). These fungal blights were identified on the branchlets and foliage, but not on established twigs. In addition, 12 of the 173 trees that were destructively sampled had annosum root rot (Heterobasidion annosum).

The abrupt mortality, widespread distribution of the mortality throughout the state, and the fact that the declining trees did not have one pathogen uniformly found on the declining trees indicates that other factors may be involved. Most of the trees sampled had evidence of bark beetle activity. Typically bark beetles are considered a secondary pest on junipers, but all of the affected trees had some bark beetle activity. The damage seems sporadic, with only a few trees affected in a windbreak planting. Iowa plans to continue looking into the problem and will begin scouring roots and other plant tissues to detect signs of nematodes. Nematodes have not been identified at this time.

Conclusion and Recommendations: Some cedars are being killed by annosum root rot, but a common cause of death appears to be bark beetle attacks following other stressors. If no other damaging agents are determined, the mortality may be a result of the various fungal diseases thriving during this cool moist spring, along with bark beetle attack. Pathologists will continue to follow the problem, keeping in mind that the mortality could be a result of the unusual weather events and that the problem may subside once “normal” weather returns. The current management recommendation is to remove and completely destroy dead and dying junipers. Trees that are already heavily infested with bark beetles will not recover, and sanitation will reduce emerging beetle populations, as well as destroying the fungal pathogens that may be present on the foliage.

The above was reprinted from the Central States Forest Health Watch, July 17, 2009. Thank you to Tivon Feeley (Iowa), Mark Schall (Missouri), and Megan Kennelly (Kansas) for sharing this information.

I’m adding these themes to my working list of the sketchbook project that I have in process right now: 

• you don’t have to be a tree hugger to talk to trees, and it can save the world
• how an extraordinary little girl used every day magic to save the world (series of pages tell the story)
• how “childish dreams” can save the world
• can we be polite and still save the world?
• what unicorns can teach us about saving the world (It’s a secret-this picture is a teaser page!  You’ll have to keep following the story to learn the secret!)
• How what you believe could save the world

Late last night I was looking through Mod Cloth and found so many wonderful things so I need to put them all in a post so that they are no longer hundreds of open tabs on my browser! So here they are:

1. Hello Kitty Cutie Wallet – cutest wallet ever!, although knowing me it would get rather dirty in a matter of days in my handbag.

2. Panda-ora’s Bag – such a cute little bag, reminds me of an orange cat one that I own from Fruits Basket! I love the little leaf details on the zip pulls.

3. 23 Flavours of Fab Lunch Box – Dr Pepper – Im always a sucker for tin lunch boxes.

4. Arcade Parade Necklace – very cute retro game necklace, would prefer it in silver though, or colourful.

5. Modzilla Necklace – also comes in black!

6. Aesop’s Fable Necklace in Fox – amazing fox necklace! Reminds me of children’s fairy tales…

7. Camera Obscura Necklace – gonna see if my dad will make me one of these!

8. Time for Romance Necklace – very ornate fob watch, the back is pretty too

9. Friendly Robot Necklace – lovely robot necklace with movable joints!

10. The Poirot Ring – the funniest ring I have seen for a long time!

11. Urban Forest Rings – tiny ornaments on rings are fun, but I fear they will break off quite easily?!

12. Hello Tootsies Socks – love long socks, love Hello Kitty…

13. Winter Semester Socks in Marshmallow – they look so comfy!

14. Anything Bows Headband – I think this would look really cute in my hair.

15. Heartbeats Cuff – chunky cuff for your wrist, very bold design

16. Two Servings a Day Belt – I have been looking for a new belt, and this is so yummy!

17. A-Bot Time Keychain – I think I love robots!

18. Onassis Dress – plain and simple yet very wearable for me. I have an issue with dresses, as I dont own many and never did for many years, so I am forcing them upon myself!

19. Glimmering Girl Dress

20. Frock and Roll Party Queen in Sandy – I seem to love big bows on dresses…

21. The Christine Dress – so cute but out of stock

22. Auld Lang Syne Dress – big and puffy!

23. The Gilda Dress

24. Picture Day Jumper in Khaki – I would love to wear this with a comfy top on underneath

25. Creme de la Creme Sweater Dress – this is so me! If I had to pick one dress from this line up it would be this one.

26. Gettysburg A-Dress

27. Pump Up the Volume Dress – huge puff ball!

28. No Place Like Gnome Tshirt

29. Ele-fun Tee

30. Paradise Kitty Tank Top – its like your boobs are winking at you!

31. Frosting on Top

32. Kawaii Cuisine Bento Box in Giraffe

33. Coffee Nymphs Mug

34. The Vintage Home book – as I love inspiration

35. Apple of my Eye Mirror – would look great in the bathroom!

36. Pear-y Cute Bento Boxes

37. The Better to Bond with You Tape Dispenser – so so so so cute!

38. I See You Mug

39. Lovely Little Labbit Rabbits

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Two of the hamsters were fighting today so I had to separate them to individual cages. I got hamster blood on my hands, I was not impressed!

Myself and Ryan are off to Bluewater this evening, mostly to see Rick Stein and hopefully get a book signed in Waterstones, but also to do some shopping! I cant wait, it should be fun. I should actually be getting dressed but I’m eating left over pizza

Jenn x

Copyright © 2009 by Preston Surface. All Rights Reserved.

Anna had to pull well over, almost into the ditch, to get off the curvy two lane country road so I could get this photo. The horse was further in the field when I first saw him and before Anna had to backtrack to get me back to this location. Only now the horse moves up to the fence wanting petted and talked to. Geez… I thought the photo would have been better with him further in the back allowing more of the farm, hills, and silo to show. As I petted the horse I told him my idea of what I wanted. He just ignored my wishes and stayed where he was. Who knows, maybe it was best this way. I thanked him for letting me take his picture and was on my way.

Boundaries, soft pastel on Ampersand panel, 11 x 14″ © 2009 Marianne Post

The California landscape as we know it today has to include the eucalyptus tree. They are everywhere. Imported from their native homeland of Australia in the 1850’s they were the answer to many entrepreneurial ideas. When you think about it they were ‘very California’ from the very beginning. Shipbuilders, furniture makers, ranchers, pharmaceutical makers and railroad companies all embraced their deep roots and believed they held a promise for prosperity. Somethings don’t pan out as planned or hoped. But an empty promise makes for artistic fodder.

The groves of ‘eucs’ seem to have given way to rows that act as wind breaks or boundary lines across the fields of crops in my neck of the woods. There are so many varieties. Some are stout, others are like a ballerina as their graceful sway gives way to the valley breezes. They have been the subject of many California Impressionist painters including Edgar Payne. So I decided to give it a try. I painted Boundaries, inspired by a few trees that grace the approach to my driveway. How lucky can I get?

Mother Nature had a surprise for us when we woke up this morning

These cute and sparkly felt fir trees are stunning as a table centerpiece or to be used as a decoration around your home during the festive season.

Things you will need:

• Green felt
• Styrofoam cones
• Cotton balls
• Fabric glue…

Click here to view more…
http://www.sevafrica.com/HomeGarden/Diy-FeltFirChristmasTrees.shtml

Photosynthesis is the Batman to Global Warming’s Joker.  Trees and plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into oxygen and sugar.  Environmentalists in Oregon have recognized this natural process as a vital component in monitoring the earth’s changing climate, and have started to strategically protect forests as “carbon sinks.”  Forests cannot store carbon indefinitely, though.  In a naturally functioning forest ecosystem, forests get burnt down by fire and re-grow healthier, because all the dead material impeding young growth is cleared away.  But in a forest functioning as a “carbon sink,” fires do the opposite of what environmentalists want the forest to do, by releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  Therefore, workers clear dead and dry underbrush from the forests to prevent fires from occurring.  This interference with a natural process is a subject of debate in environmental circles.  Some scientists claim the fires should be allowed, because “only 5 percent of the total ecosystem carbon is going up in smoke.  When you talk about trying to prevent that, it’s not as big a carbon pulse to the atmosphere as people think.”  Others do not buy this statistic.  Some propose that different systems of regulation should be fabricated for each forest individually, by weighing the amount of carbon that would be released in a fire against the amount of carbon released trying to prevent a fire.

This has potential for being a pretty cool system.  Saving forests and reducing our effect on the atmosphere seems like a win-win situation.  But maybe this is too much interference.  By taking away wildfires, we are taking the wild and sublime away from an ecosystem.  Maybe it’s ok to do this, and the human presence will replace the need for fire.  Humans will become the new sublime force in nature.  I’d say it’s pretty safe to argue that humans are well on their way of becoming the sublime force of the world.  People can level whole forests with machinery to make way for development, and dam mighty rivers to harness electricity.  Scientists are even working on ways to control weather.  Is this wildfire prevention just another assertion that we are in fact sublime deities?  Who knows, but at least we’re protecting some forest from our other destructive habits.

sunrise horizon …
light grazes the high treetops -
slowly fills the world