And of course I do. It's not bad, this life. Just maybe too much.
On Saturday, we walked along a magnificent tree lined avenue, I counted 60 plane trees. The original planting included 100 according to the written submission which was presented by one of my ancestors, a forester, to the Margrave of Ansbach in the late 17th century. Later, we unsuccessfully searched for someone to unlock the small chapel in the nearby village because I wanted to show off to R the commemorative plaque inside recording the planting and my ancestor's name. (It's only a tiny chapel.)
There was some rain and a fierce wind but 60 plane trees, leafless as they may be, can make a person very happy.
Shortly after that, I witnessed for the first time my father's onset of slight senile dementia as we got lost on the back roads for a few hours. He grew up here and usually knows this area like the back of his hand. He is 90 years old, I don't think he is aware of anything missing.
Maybe you don't have to go far: https://www.fridaysforfuture.org/events/map
I went to the river today where we gather and swim in the summer. A beautiful place, a spring head flowing into a long and winding river with gators and birds and snakes and fish and manatees and...invasive plants and species. But what got to me, what made me almost cry, was seeing equipment and the evidence that they are going to concrete a lot of the area around the little beach. Probably for picnic tables and a walkway and WHY? Of course this will interfere with the natural drainage and filtering system and will only add to the degradation of this tiny jewel in North Florida.
ReplyDeleteJust one tiny jewel on a planet which has so many which are turning murky and blurred so fast that we don't even have time to catch our breaths.
Mary, this is really sad news. I love your posts about this river so much!
DeleteIt would be surprising if the local school kids and parents didn't know about Fridays for Future. If not, I'll see what I can do to bring this to local attention. At this point, the closest events are in Seattle and Langley, B.C., Canada.
ReplyDeleteThe plane trees are beautiful. Happy to know you were able to visit them with R and your father.
The sun is shining here today, despite the continued unusually cold weather. Hope the sun is shining on you, too.
That you are also a lover of trees makes me like you even more. They are among my favorite things on the planet. Flugschamen is perhaps why my husband will drive all the way to CA rather than fly. Or maybe your friend has a word for loving to drive thousands of miles without stopping? Which is why I fly (but not often.)
ReplyDeleteIreland had the same weather as you last summer. The Irish love sunshine and warm weather but not when It comes with so many problems....
On March 15 I (plus wife and grandson) will be watching one of the 22 movies booked for the local movie festival. It will be shown in Hereford All Saints church (ie, Anglican) which is sort of odd. Will the screen be erected on or near the altar?
ReplyDeleteThe movie is a rarely seen Hitchcock, I Confess, which I watched in the year it was launched, 1953, when I was 18. Montgomery Clift plays a Catholic priest and at the time I was yearning for the attention of J, my first love. She was flirting with catholicism and thus so was I. Not a hope. It was agony at the time but now I'm so so glad she turned me down.
I won't be doing anything for the planet or mankind. At 83 one is primarily concerned with husbanding one's resources. I'm into the last 1000 words of a short story in which a woman who was abused by her husband is now divorced and is wrestling with the need for further male company. Should she go with the primal urge or be guided by past unpleasant experience? A dilemma which cannot be resolved and the story will end as she - fearfully - starts to fill in an online dating questionnaire, reflecting as lie follows lie in her answers.
Ich kann nicht anders.
I didn't know about "Fridays for Future" until now. I clicked on the link and found an event happening within walking distance of our house. Thank you for alerting us to that and for walking among the beautiful trees.
ReplyDeleteI love trees, sentient beings that they are. in fact one of the main reasons we bout the country house was it had 43 trees on it's half acre 9 of which are in the small tree/ large shrub category. the two pines had to be taken down as they were diseased and one of the maples died and I had one of the tallows taken down to get more sun for a garden but we are still surrounded. I have husbanded this earth as best I can all my life, my property always being a no poison and no kill zone. I have recycled everything I could and taken my own bags to the store long before it was the thing to do getting eye rolls from the cashiers. I garden with native perennials and plant for butterflies and bees. it's the way I live my life. I'm not the only one of course but we are too few. if only the rest of the world cared as much.
ReplyDeleteReading your blog about your garden always makes me happy. And inspiring!
Deleteactually that's not what I meant to say. how lovely that you can walk among trees your ancestor planted. we suffered a devastating drought here 6, 7 years ago. millions of trees died, millions more burned in wildfires.
ReplyDeleteI love that picture of the old farmhouse. Is that a house occupied by your ancestors, or just one in the region? The alley of trees is beautiful too. I read an article recently about empowering children to fight climate change and I also felt shame at that idea -- why on earth is it THEIR job? Why are we leaving it to them?!
ReplyDeleteThe house is a bit younger than the trees but it's located right beside it. I would love my ancestors to have lived there.
DeleteI remember your post about that sessions on empoering children, I was happy to read it.
I weep whenever a tree is cut down - it just seems like such a mindless waste. I don't fly when I can drive, but I've certainly flown when time is limited. And yes, I sometimes feel guilty even about that. I'm not sure what the answer is - to never travel?
ReplyDeleteI share your guilt. It depends what travel is for you. If you bear in mind that for every round-trip transatlantic flight 30 square feet of Arctic sea ice is lost for ever . . .
DeleteWe decided some time ago that we will fly only for family emergencies - my family is living on three continents at the moment. And we offset the CO2 emissions through one of the schemes available (just search for CO2 emission compensation or carbon offset). This makes flying quite expensive but that way you are reminded of the real costs of flying and it's a small version of absolution to calm the mind.
But as with cars, there are already solar planes and other renewable possibilities developed and while this may take time (and political willpower) maybe one day, we can fly carbon free.
As for travel, we are lucky here in the Rhine valley and in Europe, lots of hiking, swimming, nature, ancient cities etc. are within reach by bicycle, car and train.
In my student days, long before bucket airlines, we travelled by train. It took me 30 hours to reach Ireland when I went there for the first time (four trains, two ferries) but I am still in contact with two people I met that time. It was a magic trip through new and strange landscapes with the different languages and food along the way.
My brother travelled to Rome last week on the sleeper train from Munich. He just cannot shut up about how amazing it was.
I'm about to visit some old growth trees in my local park. A terrible amount of trees came down during the snowstorm but some old beauties are still standing. We had a fern die-back last year, puzzled scientists wandered about with clipboards. Our poor suffering planet...
ReplyDeleteXX Beth