The dates were sweet. I put a few of the seeds into a glass of water. Eventually a couple of them broke open slightly and had a tiny green tail. I stuck them into dirt. They grew. One of them always had the appearance of a dancer. The dancing date. The ballet palm.
Tree sounds compilation
My five favorite tree locations: the diversity of tree sounds
Tree sounds compilation | David George Haskell
In the evenings I sometimes pass a hotel, located on the corner of an intersection. Large trees line the street and three of them stand in front of the hotel. Birds congregate in those particular trees, as one can hear because they are the only ones from which their chatter spills. There are lights mounted on the hotel that shine against the warm yellow walls, creating a pleasant indirect light. Birds pick those three trees to meet in, nightly, as if they were a public house for birds. And why wouldn’t city birds pick three pleasantly lit trees to meet in, after a long day of searching for food. The Three Tree Social Club for Birds.
I recorded this in August of 2019 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. I was fascinated with the vine feeling for a new place to attach. I felt it was a good metaphor… when we cannot see or know, we need to trust and feel the direction.
You can watch it larger on Vimeo
Roots reaching towards the ground, to eventually become an additional trunk.
The big Banyan tree on Maui often wears little plastic buckets with water in them, hanging just below the reaching roots, to encourage them to extend downwards. I experienced that tree many years ago, in 1995, and learned that Japanese gardners had nurtured it for much of its 150 years. Japanese are the second largest ethnic group in Hawaii (link) and Ewa Villages, near Honolulu, has a population that is nearly 70% Asian. That Banyan in Maui is a wonder to behold. It is about 60′ tall and 200′ wide and fills most of the block that makes up Banyan Tree Park on Front Street, behind the Lahaina Harbor.
This tree is small compared to that giant, and it doesn’t get the loving care of that Banyan on Maui, but it looks well. Give it some time…
This morning this stretch of road looked like space, three dimensional and with thousands of little spaceships flying around at great speed. Cottonwood season.
