Thought I’d share fall photos of the Kousa dogwood at our house and its fruit, after showing its greenery earlier.
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After sharing that we have a new Kousa dogwood in our yard last Wednesday, I though I’d share a picture from this week with it flowering alongside the peonies.
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Our landscapers just brought us a new Kousa dogwood for our front yard to replace one that was dying.
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When my spouse B was growing up in rural southern Vermont, his family always had a blue spruce as a Christmas tree.
They are beautiful trees with a nice fragrance but they are dangerous!
The needles are very stiff and sharp so they are very prickly to decorate.
Unfortunately, B is also allergic to them, so he would wind up with his hands covered in red, itchy pricks and blotches on his hands.
In our own home, we do not have a blue spruce for a Christmas tree or a spruce at all. We do have a live tree but it is a fir. We used Douglas firs until they fell victim to a pest and climate changes. Now, we usually have a concolor fir. Also beautiful with a lovely scent but no itchy, pin-prickly hands!
Wishing a happy Christmas to those who celebrate and peace, joy, and love to all!
(Photo: our tree this year)
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “spruce.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2023/12/22/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-23-2023/
One of the fun things that happened during the Boiler House Poets Collective (BHPC) annual workshop at The Studios at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) this year was the chance for poets Mary Beth Hines, Jessica Dubey, and I to celebrate our books, all published by Kelsay Books.
I’m pleased to share the December post from the Kelsay Books blog that features the three of us on our MASS MoCA adventures. While Jessica and I live near one another and are long-time members of the Grapevine Poets and BHPC, this was our first time meeting Mary Beth. Although Mary Beth, as a Massachusite, was already familiar with MASS MoCA, we were thrilled to welcome her to BHPC and look forward to her return next fall for our 2024 reunion residency.
Mary Beth was the first of us to publish with Kelsay. Her debut collection, Winter at a Summer House, was published in November, 2021. Jessica’s second chapbook, All Those Years Underwater, followed in November, 2022. (Jessica’s first chapbook, For Dear Life, had been published by Finishing Line Press in May, 2022.) My first chapbook, Hearts, appeared in May, 2023.
I love this photo of us taken by fellow BHPC member Wendy Stewart! Wendy managed to catch not only, from left to right, me, Mary Beth, and Jessica, with our books and smiles but also a reflection of part of Natalie Jeremijenko’s Tree Logic, the iconic art installation at the main entrance to MASS MoCA. Commonly referred to as “the upside-down trees,” the maples had graced the courtyard since April 1999, with the trees replaced occasionally so that they could re-orient themselves and spread their roots. The image of the upside-down tree had come to symbolize MASS MoCA and was featured on a number of items in the gift shop.
As I was heading home from our residency, I was shocked to read that Tree Logic was ending its almost 25 years on exhibit in just a few days. The final trees are transplanted on the MASS MoCA campus along the Speedway. I’ll make sure to visit them next October when BHPC is again in residence, or, perhaps, I will make it back to the Museum next May for the 25th anniversary celebration.
I know the trees will be reaching for the light in their new orientation, their roots expanding to anchor them to the site of so much change over the decades. Over time, they will straighten, although they will always bear some remembrance of their time of inversion.
Yesterday, we took down our Christmas tree.
It’s a necessary task, but always a bit sad.
It’s also very nostalgic. This time, I was struck by these ornaments in particular.
These ornaments double as candy cane holders, so that they look like hobby horses when they hang on the tree. The red one was made over fifty years ago by my spouse B when he was in elementary school. The white one was made about thirty years ago by B’s mom, when she was teaching in elementary school and would lead her students in creating a holiday gift for their parents. She would always make extras to give to family members. I’m sure hers were prettier than her students, although all are equally treasured.
These and all the other ornaments are safely stowed now, waiting for next Christmas – or maybe the one after that, if we decide to spend the holidays in London this year.
Fortunately, the memories are easily accessible at any time.
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I wrote in January about having to take down the ash tree in our backyard because it had been infested with emerald ash borer.
This week, we noticed something growing near the stump.
It’s a new ash tree!
It’s growing very quickly. It certainly has a very large root structure, given that it is growing directly from where the bark meets the wood of the stump. Given its position, we aren’t sure it will survive long-term, but it is nice to see nature trying to come back from a plague.
A little hope is a good thing to have right now.
In November, I posted about the ash tree in our backyard being massively damaged by emerald ash borers, with an assist from woodpeckers.
This week, with the ground frozen and the tree service available, it was cut down. The last time we had a tree removed from the backyard, the tree service parked a truck with a boom in our driveway and worked over the garage roof. They have gotten some new, more flexible equipment since then. Our favorite was this platform vehicle.
It operated by remote control! Biggest remote control vehicle I’d ever seen…
When it was in the backyard and in use, it looked like this:
The first thing that happened was trimming of some encroaching limbs from two nearby maple trees. Next, the branches of the ash were sawed off and lowered to the ground to be picked up and fed into a chipper that was parked along the street. Then, the upper parts of the trunk were cut until what was left could be brought down without hitting the house.
They used a chainsaw to cut a huge wedge near the base of the trunk.
And, finally, this:
Because other trees are so close, they didn’t try to grind down the stump for fear of damaging the roots of the maples and oak. I wonder how long it will be to adjust to the new look of the backyard?
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Because I had shared a photo of our church during Lent, I thought I’d share an Easter view:
Many Catholic churches use bare branches instead of flowers during Lent. In recent years, my church has used small trees instead of branches. This Lent, the church environment committee went one step further.
It’s the first time I can recall seeing the corpus removed from the cross.
I find it very striking. It reminds me of some of the Lenten hymns that speak of Jesus being hung on or nailed to “a tree.”
Some people may find this too unusual a presentation.
Feel free to share your comments below.
Joanne Corey 