More About Trees

The other day Don ran across a trailer for what is sure to be a popular new BBC series on trees featuring actor Judi Dench, who seems passionate about trees. Here's a wee sample. 

We can keep a watch out for this show in the future on PBS. 

A Preview of Offa's Dyke

Obviously, this video is not mine, but I thought I'd post it here to give readers a taste of what my 2018 walk in the UK will be like. Offa's Dyke is an ancient embankment that runs south/north along the border between England and Wales. And yes, I'm planning to walk the entire way. Can't wait!!

An Appreciation of Trees

At our book club meeting last week we discussed Peter Wohlleben's best-selling The Hidden Life of Trees.

After an interesting discussion on the things like the pluses and minuses of anthropomorphism, the possible pitfalls of translation, the wonders of trees and other creatures working together and nurturing one another as well as the importance and decline of old growth forests, we ended up showing each other photos of amazing trees on our phones. 

I deemed the idea of tree photos blog-worthy and here are the ones I remember plus maybe a few extra. Okay, I probably got carried away.

• Crown Shyness

Wohlleben described how. as tree crowns grow, they tend to merge as they spread out and I discovered there's a phenomenon called crown shyness, usually but not always among trees of the same species.

• Trees Growing on Arctic Tundra

These trees actually qualify as old growth forests since they are hundreds of years old in spite of being somewhat inhibited in growth.

• Plane Trees

Plane trees in France are often pollarded - the crown is severely cut back, often in a cube shape like these trees along the Champs-Elysées. Such pruning is one way of reducing damage due to mistrals, that strong cold northwest wind blowing in from the Mediterranean Sea. Trees pollarded over many years often develop large cavities in the trunk.

The Book Clubbers fondly remembered a rare (we think) Canadian plane tree on the main drag in Niagara-on-the-Lake near the Royal George Theatre and I think I have seen others on my walks around the town. Easy to recognize with distinctive camo bark. Not pollarded.

• Umbrella Catalpa Trees

I remember these being quite common in 1970's private gardens but you don't see them as often now, maybe because they need regular maintenance and tend to leave a bit of a mess on the lawn - umbrella catalpa trees which get pollarded every fall and still manage to grow an impressive crown before winter arrives.

• Mistletoe

Great balls of parasitic plant growth that suck the life out of trees. Eventually, when the tree can no longer supply what they need, the mistletoe also dies. The photo below was taken in Normandy from the car window but we also saw them in trees surrounding the Canadian War Cemetery at Bény-Sur-Mer.

• The Maple Leaf Forever Tree (possibly an urban myth)

The tree that might have inspired Alexander Muir's composition of Canada's unofficial anthem in 1867 grew and thrived in the Leslieville area of Toronto. Unfortunately, the iconic tree's estimated 160-180-year life ended during a severe 2013 windstorm. 

All parts of the tree were sectioned and recovered, sold off to interested people, woodcarvers and carpenters, who used the boards, branches and sawdust (used by the Toronto Zoo) from the tree to make benches, ceremonial gear, memorial furniture and even a guitar. See my 2015 post about it here, although I apologize that most of the photos in that post are no longer available. 

• The Vimy Oaks

That Maple Leaf Forever tree reminded me of the Vimy Oaks - you might already know the story. 

The WWI battle of Vimy Ridge, April 9-12, 1917 in northeast France was a killer, with thousands of men, both Canadians and Germans lost or wounded in brutal conditions. The oak trees in the area were also pretty much wiped out. 

Canadian, Lieutenant Leslie H. Miller survived the battle and returned to Canada with some Vimy acorns in his baggage. Since he was no longer able to pursue a career as a teacher, Miller's father gave him 24 acres of land in northeast Toronto where he farmed. And planted those acorns. Vimy Oaks. He named the farm after them. 

The oaks grew and thrived in the Canadian soil, producing crop after crop of acorns. As a centenary offering, the Government of Canada offered to ship some Vimy seedlings from Miller's trees to France. Worried about the possibility of passing botanical disease across the ocean, the offer was declined in favour of a shipment of Vimy acorns to be planted in the forest which abuts the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. Vimy Oaks repatriated. 

• Cathedral Grove, Vancouver Island, BC

• The Giant Redwoods of Northern California

• The Sycamore Gap Tree, Hadrian's Wall, UK

I was lucky enough to walk past this tree last May. In spite of Wohlleben's theory that trees really need each other in reasonably close company in order to thrive, this tree is thriving. Obviously, this iconic sycamore that has been around for years, on its own, in a protected spot between two rising ridges on either side is doing well. Hadrian's Wall Path goes from left to right in the photo which is directed northward.

• Cedars of Lebanon

• Moreton Fig Tree

The Moreton Bay Fig also known as an Australian Banyan, has a huge aggressive root system and an immense crown, making it a poor candidate for a private yard but it is often found in public areas of places like Australia, northern New Zealand, Portugal and Sicily. We were blown away seeing them when we were in Auckland.

One of the interesting facts about fig trees is that the fruit can only be pollinated by fig wasps and fig wasps can only reproduce inside fig flowers: a mutual relationship.

• Monkey Puzzle Tree

This very unique-looking monkey puzzle tree is native to southern and central Chile (it's the national tree of Chile) and western Argentina. It was imported into the UK in the mid-19th century and can be found there in the warmer climes - Cornwall and Valentia Island off of southern Ireland - and even in colder places of the UK - Scotland and in Norway, the west coast of North America as far north as the Haida Gwaii, the east coast of the US, Australia and New Zealand. 

Finally, from Phil Barnett, @squinancywort1, a chart of tree bark.

Moveable Barrier

These moveable barriers have fascinated me for awhile. I used to wonder what magic let the traffic change from one direction to another in a lane. Here's how:

And here's how they installed the moveable barrier:

Just in case you're still with me, here's a view from the zipper truck:

A Botanical Surprise

This is one of my two Sansevieria plants.

It's the smaller of the two and resulted when the larger plant started to annoy me by growing leaves that stuck out at odd angles (see that little devil poking out front?). That's when I reacted by dividing up the "mother" plant and sticking some of its parts into a smaller pot, pictured above.

You may have noticed that tiny flower on the right? I spotted it today when I decided to move the plant to a brighter place in the house. At first, I thought it was a weed, but no! It's a Sansevieria flower!

When I inspected more closely, I found another one on the other side.

What's interesting is that these two plants, mother and daughter (no flowers on mom, by the way) have been stuck in a dark corner of the dining room for the past 3 months, the darkest part of the year and have rarely been watered, so neglected have they been. Maybe that's the lesson to learn. Neglect your Sansevieria and it will thrive! 

The Lightkeeper's Daughters

The Lightkeeper's Daughters

Jean E. Pendziwol

Jean E. Pendziwol is a Canadian author of several award-winning kids' books. The Lightkeeper's Daughters is her debut novel for adults. As a resident of Northern Canada, Pendziwol is knowledgeable about Lake Superior and its history and geography in the Thunder Bay area, the setting for this well-researched novel. 

The story itself is fairly complicated but Pendziwol unwinds it adeptly yet at a pace that keeps the reader engaged. Here is a concise summary of the novel from the author's website:

Elizabeth's eyes have failed. She can no longer read the books she loves or see the paintings that move her spirit, but her mind remains sharp and music fills the vacancy left by her blindness. When her father's journals are discovered
after an accident, she enlists the assistance of a delinquent teenager, Morgan, who is completing community service at the retirement home where Elizabeth lives, and together they read the musty books. An unlikely relationship develops between the two women as they are drawn into the word of the Porphyry Island light-keeper penned more than 70 years ago. In the process, they discover they are both connected to the isolated island, their lives touched by Elizabeth's enigmatic twin sister Emily and the beautiful but harsh Lake Superior environment. But for Elizabeth, the faded pages of her father's journals hold more secrets than she anticipates and threaten the very core of who she is.

Like so many modern novels, the tale is told in two voices, one reflecting on the past, the other coping with the present. This blending of past and present is skillfully done and the complicated web of the storyline is expertly unravelled.

The characters of the novel are well-developed, with authentic voices, largely sympathetic to one another, helping the reader to both understand and relate. 

I really enjoyed the descriptions of the great Lake Superior in its many moods and how the lives of those living nearby can be impacted. It's good to remind ourselves too that shipping on the Great Lakes was and is an important part of our country's heritage and economy. As a landlubber, I often take such things for granted, giving little thought to the risks involved.

I really enjoyed reading The Lightkeeper's Daughters. I hope that Jean E. Pendziwol is able to get plenty of recognition for this excellent novel and that she will continue to write many more.

If you'd like a little taste of the audio version of the novel, click here.

The Boat Runner

The Boat Runner

Devin Murphy

Devin Murphy is a Chicago-based writer and assistant professor of creative writing of Dutch heritage which might explain why his 2017 novel The Boat Runner follows a Dutch family’s fortunes during WWII. Perhaps misfortunes would be a better word. It is brilliantly written, a wonderful historical novel.

The action opens in the late 1930’s when Jacob and Edwin, 14- and 15-year-old Dutch brothers begin to understand the impending influence of the Germans in their lives. The family lives in a northeast coastal fishing village. The boys’ mother’s brother, Uncle Martin has a fishing boat and the boys are often on it helping out and learning the ropes. The boys’ father, owner of a light bulb factory is excited to be courting Volkswagen as a potential customer. In an attempt to influence the customer and win the business, he even sends the boys to a German youth camp.

 We follow this family through the pre-war years and when war breaks out and their country and town are occupied, it’s easy to see why loyalties are conflicted. Whether one is on the Allied side or the German side is like shaking the dice for survival. There doesn’t seem to be an official Dutch side. At the same time, the Dutch are hardy folk, survival is in their blood. The moral dilemmas facing the members of this family play a major part in the novel and would provide good fodder for discussion in a book club.

However, this is a war novel with events described therein that are very troubling and graphically described. I’m not sure I would even want to suggest it as a book club selection. On the other hand, it is such an epic novel and such an amazing story to read, that I do recommend it for intrepid readers.

In the author’s words:

This is very much a work of fiction, but it is built upon a historical and personal scaffolding of real people and true events. Now, I hope others will read the book and see this family’s impossible situation, and how the circumstances that create great upheavals have morphed through time, jumping borders, races and oceans. I hope this book does its job and entertains, evokes empathy for others, and leaves you more alert to those around you and the unique depths of their lives. But more than anything, I hope this story connects some unknowable reader to the receding shadows of our past, especially those of the darkest times, which is where we learn how essential it is to find the power of our own voice.

Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere
Celeste Ng

There has been a lot of excitement about Little Fires Everywhere since its publication and even before. The author, Celeste Ng, is a US writer who grew up in the Cleveland, Ohio suburb of Shaker Heights, a “planned community”. Ng’s first novel, Everything I Never Told You was such a great hit that it wasn't difficult to generate interest in her second novel.

When I started to read Little Fires Everywhere it was difficult to stop because I became totally engrossed in the fascinating characters. We get a window into the life of the Richardson family, a seemingly perfect family – mom, dad, with 4 teenagers, 2 daughters and 2 sons, living the perfect planned life in the perfectly planned community.

Along came a spider and sat down beside her….oh wait. I mean, there moved into the community some outsiders, a mom and daughter, who bring fresh points of view and consequently unintentionally tip over the applecart.

Personalities react with personalities, people get nosy, little fires are lit and chaos ensues.

I loved it all. It was a great read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story, told well.

I know I do Little Fires Everywhere an injustice with this piddling little review, so I urge you to look it up on Goodreads or just Google it.