L'arbre au grand coeur

Have you read Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree? (It's called "L'arbre au grand coeur" in French, which translates roughly to "the big-hearted tree.") It's a heartwarming children's book about generosity and love. It was one of my favourites when I read bedtime stories.

As soon as I saw the tree across the street from our house, I thought of the Giving Tree. It is just so child-friendly. It made me happy.

Our backyard, however, was another matter. Do you remember this picture?

NOT feeling a lot of love here.
July 14, 2010

One of the surprises we've discovered as we've decimated this backyard, however is that we have our own Giving Tree! And it's playing hide-and-seek!

We'll have to put a big rock (or two) up there, so our grandchildren can play hide-and-seek with the tree.

Speaking of trees in our backyard ... I've also fallen in love with the "Fat Albert" spruce tree we planted. Its new growth is such a pretty blue-ish colour.

Does all this make me a tree-hugger? Maybe so.

Trees
by Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
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.

(And I *just* learned that Joyce Kilmer was a man. How did I manage to go through school - including a degree in English literature - and not know this? I learn something new almost every time I write a blog post.)