I love trees

I love this tree, but I have Tree Love that some find weird. (Part of the reason I liked Gwenyth's Emma movie so much was for the spectacular oak tree that was prominently featured. Also for Jeremy Northam... but seriously, that tree was fantastic!) The tree in this picture is one at my regular park; it harbors many of my squirrel nemeses.

(well, I assume they are my nemeses because of the glaring, the chattering, the general arms akimbo air of scolding. Maybe they're trying to impart some Squirrel Wisdom, but I have my doubts.)

I have been lucky that the two places I've lived the longest (Florida and Oregon) have both been rich in great trees. In Florida there were banyans, mangroves, some kind of swampy cedar, live oaks, citrus (orange blossom season!), mango, palm trees, and many many more. (I was not a fan of the southern scrub pine, except the needles were excellent for braiding and poking people and the pine cones were gigantic.) [edit: I can't believe I forgot the cypress of Cypress Gardens fame! I think CG is some godawful "adventure theme park" now, but it used to be mostly botanical gardens with, I Shit You Not, girls paid to sit decoratively on the lawn in southern belle outfits -- I wonder if that's where the Weeki Wachee mermaids went when they had to give up their fins? CG also feautured stunt water skiing -- think the Go-go's Vacation video. I remember going there with my grandparents a lot.]

In Oregon we have the all deciduous trees that were lacking in Florida: maple, chestnut, japanese maple, some fantastic (but of delicate constitution) dutch elm, blooming cherry and plum (going gangbusters right now), ginkgo, dogwood, hazelnut, stone fruit trees, etc. etc. And of course the evergreens: fir trees, redwoods down south, giant cedar, spruce, ETC. It's a good place for trees. There are some places in the old forests that are breathtaking; beautiful and creepy all at once. (Any creepy forest scene in the X-Files gives a pretty good idea -- they filmed in British Columbia, but it's very similar.)

I was on a tour at some interpretive center or another, and overheard a woman talking about her grandfather who used to be a logger way back when. She said what people forget is how different it was before chain saws; he and his fellows worked logging because they really loved to be in the forest. It hardly seems possible that that's still the case, but I digress. My point is -- trees! I'm a fan. If anyone knows of a particularly fine specimen, let me know.

A sign like this will pretty much guarantee that I will pull over if I'm driving. (although part of that is the sheer enthusiasm of the sign -- Big Tree -- nature's own roadside attraction, like arboreal version of the World's Largest Frying Pan, which I just realized I saw on the same road trip!).