I read the "Giving tree" many, many times.
Shell Silverstein was a genius.
In the book we find out that even an old stump has something beautiful to offer as it becomes a chair for the boy now an old man with tired legs.
I have chosen a few images I have on had of trees who have been affected by interacting with man. These have even been in direct conflict with man desires. I find these interactions though provoking and beautiful. Each one has a story and each one has made me curious. These are two valuable things.
I hope you enjoy these 7 images and can see that true beauty exists in many experiences and insight can arise within conflict.
Here, in a Zen garden (Golden Gate park SF, CA) is a tree that is being sculpted. The gardeern is using bamboo poles to help support and direct the limbs of a large bonsai tree. Zen garden are a synthesis of man and tree and nature. What is more sublime than a couple hours enjoying a Zen garden?
Electricity is real darn important and beautiful, it drives so much life. Here the tree has been parted to allow the lines to pass. I really like the mixture of the straight lines of man and the meandering lines of the tree.
My good friend counts the rings in this freshly cut tree near Lake of Isles in Minneapolis. This tree was shade for many a sunny afternoon. It was a shock to see it gone. It is also incredible to see the lines of life on the stump and to ponder this trees history.
(I did post this image once before for a different reason.)I just love the concrete and base of this tree becoming one solid mass. Northern California.
I love the odd abstracted sort of symmetry in this image. There are so many layers of interaction present here. I don't know why the tree was cut down, I do know that what has been left behind is quite beautiful.
This trimmed tree is going for it again!! Life, life, life!!
I end the conversation with this one. This scene really caught my attention and I spent a handful of minutes here. We have the sump and it's history, we have the symbols and marking and their history, we have the vibrant colors, we have the fences marking space and history and there is a walkway/path right through it all. It is sad, that tree was grand - and it is just so interesting when I take a second to be with all of this, really crazy!
I do hope you enjoy the journey you are on today.