Arbor Day 2012 ~ For the Love Of Trees

"It is well that you should celebrate your Arbor Day thoughtfully, for within your lifetime the nation's need of trees will become serious. We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed; and because of that want you will reproach us, not for what we have used, but for what we have wasted." 

~ Theodore Roosevelt, 1907 Arbor Day Message

"He who plants a tree, Plants a hope." ~ Lucy Larcom, "Plant a Tree"

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The next best time is now."  ~ Chinese Proverb


"The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit."  ~ Nelson Henderson

"The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in their way."  ~ William Blake


"The oaks and the pines, and their brethren of the wood, have seen so many suns rise and set, so many seasons come and go, and so many generations pass into silence, that we may well wonder what "the story of the trees" would be to us if they had tongues to tell it, or we ears fine enough to understand."  ~ Author Unknown

"If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees." ~ Hal Borland

"Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it."  ~ Henry David Thoreau

 I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is presst

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

~ Joyce Kilmer, "Trees," 1914

These images are from my iStock portfolio and are available for license here.

The Symbolism of Trees II

"The tree is more than first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber. 

The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky."  ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The fall always has a way of getting me really looking at trees. As they put on their autumn show, (or not), their individual characteristics become so much more evident. I went back to The Symbolism of Trees and followed this link to the tree test.  Mine has changed significantly from the first time I took it.

"The oaks and the pines, and their brethren of the wood, have seen so many suns rise and set, so many seasons come and go, and so many generations pass into silence, that we may well wonder what "the story of the trees" would be to us if they had tongues to tell it, or we ears fine enough to understand."  ~ Author Unknown

Check out  The Unfading Tree by Big Green Oak if you are into this kind of thing. It was fun. What kind of tree, or trees are you? 

This iStock image has really changed and "grown" as I have become more comfortable with the Wacom Tablet. Now, I actually ENJOY using it. I remember in the beginning, I was tearing my hair out. As usual, I'm glad I stuck it out.  Many thanks to my good friend and mentor, Nanolou for always cheering me on.

"The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground."  ~Author Unknown