Page 69 - To know things we have to have the world inside us

“What do I see when I look at you?....things
others loved. I see a gift given from you. Thank you
Oak. My changing friend, my weathered friend.”

“Each trunk displays a stiff
horizontal branching habit littered
with clusters of needle like leaves
from short woody pegs sitting
along the branches, often densely,
leaving the underside of branches
mostly bare.”

“If he could talk I think he would agree - we
have become old friends, my tree and I.”

“The tree is a hymn. It speaks of change and life, hope, stability and patience.”

Clearly the way the teacher~researchers have come~to~know the trees is more than a rational knowing of
characteristics, biology, ecology. Emotion is often expressed, often tied to deep and very personal memories. A
sensitivity to the rich aesthetics of the tree, its whole and parts, is woven into the poetic language that
accompanies carefully framed photographs. And the threads weaving their way through so many individual trees
that will never physically come together captures and makes visible some of life’s big questions. As one teacher
wrote “It is always good to remember that things are not as they seem.” And “If he could talk I think he would

agree—we have become old friends, my tree and I.”

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