Where the wild things are

Am I the only one that talks to trees? I don’t think so but just the act of tip, tap typing that question makes me realize the oddballity of it. 
But I believe in them. As in have Faith.
We spied the row of oaks outside of Simiane-la-Rotonde and were drawn to them, moth to a flame.
“C’est les centenaires,” Banco, the owner of La Buissonade, our cottage rental explained. He knows. He walks this land every day with his dog at his side.
 
Centuries old. 
So much life has passed by its bark, so many storms and flitting butterflies.
The sun was starting to slide as we found the path that lead to them. A path they lined, that had once lead to somewhere. A home, a chapel, a forgotten village.
The largest oak looked even more alive than it was, as if it could wrap its branches around me with a wap and I’d be gone. So I told it thank you for standing guard, solid strong for all of this time…
…here where the wild things are.
I want to extend a sincere thank you to all of you that responded to my previous post either in the comments or by email. What an amazing community and I feel grateful to be a reason for such fine minds to come together.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

UPDATE: Hello there! If you are seeing this on Sunday, I am delighted to be guest-posting over a the truly amazing D.A. Wolf’s “Daily Plate of Crazy” on the idea of Provence Time…liking that concept? I thought that you would!
The link is Here.

48 comments

  1. Roxane, you write so beautifully that I was surprised not to see a blog on your profile when I clicked. Undoubtedly, you are using that fine creativity elsewhere. For I could see what you saw in reading this and how I dearly miss those giant Eastern trees of the US. It is true, they are not up for my type of foolish whispers!
    How wonderful to sit gazing at the river…thank you for the image…

  2. Ahh, old trees are amazing! We have ten 150+ years old Sugar Maples trees in our backyard in a line on the bank overlooking the river. They are magnificent and offer a stunning show throughout the year with their chartreuse green leaves in the Spring, deep green in the Summer, fiery reds & yellows in Autumn and gnarled branches in the Winter. I do love to stand under them gazing up into their branches in wonder! They offer a cool relief under their enormous branches in the summer as we sit in our Adirondack chairs gazing at the river. We have one that won't be with us much longer though, sad to say. It is providing nourishment for the woodpeckers and hiding space for the owls in the neighborhood as it slowly eases it way out. Branches of different sizes fall daily onto the ground, sometimes in the road. Only problem will be when it finally lets go, it will take the power lines with it! Although I have spoken to our trees, I can't imagine they're much interested in anything I have to say, considering all the time they've spent here on earth. Your photos certainly evoke a wild, beautiful and somewhat forbidding image.

  3. Oh, Just for the record, Heather?……while I was away, canny Herve somehow managed to find someone who paid 1800$ for the wood from that beyond-enormous tree.

    That considerably softened to blow to HIS bank account (do I need to emphasize that the bank accounts of self-employed artists and their WHO/CDC/BigPharma epidemiologist-boyfriends are, to say the least,…distinguishable from each other?).

    Yours for (as ever) Truth in Advertising,

    David Terry
    http://www.davidterryart.com

  4. Hi Heather,
    Thank you.
    He is a wonderful man and a very good photographer. I enjoyed his gallery.
    edgar

  5. NK, I love imagining a little you in a magnolia tree–it must have smelled like Heaven in there! We are both lucky that we were able to grow up being friends with nature.

  6. Somehow, I could not imagine you in a desert, Mr. Terry. And I was sorry to hear about your pecan tree and am now even sorrier to hear about the damage to your bank account! Ouch!

  7. Heehee. I do like to make up words now and again. 🙂
    And eleven trees in your yard when you were little! No wonder they remain important to you…
    Will stop by to see what you are up to now.
    Bisous,
    H

  8. Clare! I have missed thee too! 😉 We all get behind on our blog friends posts–I know I do. Hoping you are well and as beautiful as ever (inside and out)…

  11. Edgar, I LOVED these! Especially the story about the tree captured over a year (how he got such amazing photos on his iphone is a mystery to me, however :). Do you know the work of American photographer Jim Brandenburg?
    http://www.jimbrandenburg.com/
    I think that you would really appreciate it as I do.

  12. Leslie, how much I love that you are the Keeper of the Trees. Such an amazing woman you are, all around. I feel so grateful for our connection–you inspire me!!!
    Gros Bisous,
    H

  14. I think that is exactly what I like about these old trees so much. So reassuring. We need all the calm we can get, don't we?

  16. The texture of the bark can be so amazing, can't it? When I was little we had birch trees in our garden and I could never get over how they shed their "skin" like a snake!

  17. Trust me, Mr. Laoch, in your next life you want to come back as one of my dogs. 🙂

  18. Sue, you sound like my kind of person! Wouldn't it be amazing if we could all go on a walk together in some of these off the track places? I already know that Leslie would be a perfect walking companion…
    Me too I am curious about what part of Canada and yes, how brave those that were first…

  20. You are an important member of this little gathering, Jackie–I am so appreciative–especially as you still say hello even though I am terrrrribly behind on reading your posts! I need to get caught up!

  21. Thank you friend. And how evocatively you drew your scene with such few words–it shows that you cared for that old apple tree.

  22. Pam, that made me laugh! And made me think of all of the French ladies that mutter to themselves at the grocery store. Have you noticed that?

  23. Maywyn (and sorry it took me so long to reply, we were out of town a bit), he isn't looking, he is listening attentively to dogs barking in the distance!

  24. N, this response is so you–well, at least what I know of you! Those roses knew that you meant business!! And yes, some trees can be snobby that way…

  25. I love this post – and yes, I have been known to talk to trees as well. I spent many a childhood afternoon secreted away in the branches of a magnolia tree; there is magic in them and I think you captured it beautifully. 🙂

  26. Hmmm…..as far as old trees go?

    Last month's mini-tornado (not a thing we have, as a very gneeral rule, in North carolina) came through and took down the 250 year old (or thereabouts, as I was told last year when we bought this 220 year old place) pecan tree in front of the house.

    Once down, it covered two properties and most of the street.

    3600 dollars down the road (ahd that's not for damages, just for clearing its reamins away), we've finally gotten rid of most of it and are able to come up the driveway fromthe road. I wish I could post a picture of what that leviathan looked like when it came down…..amazing how BIG even a big tree is.

    For whatever it's worth, we (having had two of North Carolina's oldest pecan trees" in out yard) still have one of them….along with youngsters that are only about 150 years old. this is a very tree-y joint.

    —-david terry

  27. Dear Heather, Trees of all kinds have always been part of my live, when I was little we had 11 in our yard!
    I love the mighty oak and the maple because it was a good climbing tree, with strong low branches!
    Now I do like the word "oddballity" and will have to find a reason to use it!

    Please do join my latest giveaway and feature.
    Xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

  28. Oh, Heather, how I've missed thee! I've been a bad blogger and have terribly missed your posts! These photos are stunning. (I talk to my plants all the time).

    Clare x

  29. yes.

    as you might expect.

    we talk to trees too.

    and touch low-hanging branches with fingertips and tell them that they look radiant and abundant.

    but not when anyone is listening.

    😉

  31. lovely heather!
    très jolie. comme toujours!
    i see that i have a lot to catch up with.
    and i am about to start now.
    love from berlin*
    julia

  33. Your wild thing is particularly beautiful!

    You most likely will not be surprised to hear that yes, I do talk to trees. And I have listened to them speak in the breeze every day I have lived among them. I am awed by the Douglas Fir giants and all the other trees* that I can walk among on our street and in the huge old-growth forest nearby. (*Regrettably, in this region, we have few oaks or elms.) Whenever a neighbor wants to take down a tree because of fear that it may fall on a house, I cajole him or her into consulting a wise arborist who hates to take down trees. Every time a neighbor asks a someone living below on our hill to take a tree down to give him or her a "better view," I badger the lower neighbor not to agree (and/or ask the upper neighbor what is a better view than a tree). We are stewards of the land around us, including its trees, and in my view, we should not take down a tree that was living here when we moved in unless it is diseased and about to fall and inflict injury or serious damage. Thank you for this post, Heather! Leslie in Portland, Oregon

  34. My grandfather was one of those people, Sue B. At age 14, he emigrated from Minnesota to Alberta to homestead on the rolling Alberta prairie east of Edmonton. As a child, I came upon those piles of stones on my grandparents' farm there. I loved that farm, but neither of their children wanted to farm, so the place was sold to another family when my grandparents retired. Thank you for bringing back wonderful memories. Where in Canada do you live? Leslie in Portland, Oregon

  35. I talk to and hug trees, they are wonderful. Your photos are gorgeous.
    Anne xx

  36. Such beauty, Heather. It fills one with a sense of calm.

    xo

    Have a wonderful weekend.

  37. When one feels that solitude is necessary; there is nothing like the company of trees.
    Yes, they certainly have history of their own to convey,
    but they listen to you and give you their strength.
    As you portray in your images, they often stand as witnesses long
    after other beings have migrated to other parts.
    Heather, a beautiful post, thank you.

  38. I don't talk to trees but I do like to touch them and 'get to know' them – especially the really old trees. Have a wonderful weekend.

  40. I love this post! My husband and I are in love with out of the way and somewhat derelict places that we stumble upon on our walks, both at home and while travelling. At home in Canada, we often encounter the remains of collapsed barns, overgrown rock fences, and piles of stones that were once cleared from the rocky fields of long abandoned pioneer farms. I imagine the strength of the people who carved a homestead from the harsh Canadian landscape.

  42. My sister hugs trees, I have many pics to prove it!
    Trees are living things so who is to say they don't listen right?

    Beautiful pictures as always along with sweet profound words.

    I need to catch up on your blog; been away for too long.
    ♥

  44. Oh Heather, you really do inspire such wonderful conversations among your readers/friends/followers – whatever you call those folks who so regularly turn to you for inspiration. Thanks for yet another calming reminder of all that is sound in this world!

  45. I don't talk to trees but many times I have wished they could talk to me. What have they seen standing in one place so solidly for so long. There was an old, gnarled apple tree that shaded a bench in our town. It was knocked down by Hurricane Sandy. A new one has already been planted. But I still think about that old tree. What secrets and dramas did it witness while standing guard over that bench.

    I wish could just dive right into these photos, you've captured so much here, Heather. Bravo!

  46. i love that you talk to the trees! i don't..but i talk to myself which is just strange! bon weekend! xo

  47. Your photographs continue to amaze and inspire me.
    I'm adding the Ben photo to my favorites of him.
    What is he looking at?

  48. I talk to my flowers and they do listen because last year I threatened to get rid of the roses if they kept refusing to bloom and the next day a red bud came out! But walking through my regular trek through the park, some trees just dont answer back…

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