Ah, a dendrologist, are you? But my tree is a Norway maple, not a Norway spruce (I do love Norway spruce. They are a favorite!) Norway maples are actually invasive, but they’ve been here for quite a while. They are messy, dropping twigs and branches all the time!
Don, I wrote a similar piece last week -- one that focused on the fact that we do not need some big summer excursion to really enjoy the season. We just need today. We need the neighborhood tree, like you said. I love the way you expressed this concept and related it to a bucket list. Our bucket list is being checked off each moment if we're doing this life thing right. I loved this piece you wrote. Thank you!
I enjoyed everything about this, starting with the pot-smoking driver's ed kid. Sometime in the past few years, I came to see/understand the essential leafness of us all--in the sense that our lives are all so short and small in the big picture of things--and it was a tremendous relief. It allowed me to let go of thinking that I had to matter so damn much. I appreciate the way you've given here to refine that and take it to a deeper way of mattering, but one that still results in release.
Beautiful! If I were told I had a week to live I’m guessing I would want to sink more deeply into the familiar rather than chase the new and different. Not that I don’t enjoy the new and different—just interesting how that gets named as the “bucket list.” Thanks (once again!) for your writing. 😊
You posted a list of books you've referred to in your Stack and The Maltese Falcon was one of them. That book and the Bogart movie are two of my favorite things. I'll bet you'd enjoy Eddie Muller's book DARK CITY and the completely unrelated movie entitled DARK CITY.
The book Dark City is a recounting of all film noir movies and it includes great pictures. The movie is a mind-blowing sci-fi/fantasy/horror/film noir mystery. Along with SNOWPIERCER, it is the only movie I've purchased from Prime Video. It is amazing.
“You imagine that certain conditions are necessary to your happiness...” These attachments are such strong forces, aren’t they?! l realized this on a new level when we moved down to TX to care for my mom during end stage Alzheimer’s. It was challenging for a number of reasons, and I noticed how often I would think, “Gosh, I’ll be glad to have this certain stage of the journey behind me.” And then, when I would reach that point, I noticed how any sense of relief almost immediately transitioned into, “Gosh, I’ll be glad to have this next certain stage of the journey behind me!” I had been practicing contentment for many years - and here I was like a brand new student, starting all over again! Instead of learning how not to spend my present wishing for some future, I had to start learning how not to spend my present wishing it was past!🤣
“If we could only begin to see, really see, that this one lifetime is like a leaf on a tree.” SUCH an apt metaphor, so full of peace when deeply grasped.
I have used the bucket list language and added that I have no list. I just do things as they come to mind and circumstances allow, then put them in the bucket. The way you have worded this causes me to rethink the way I say it since I don’t actually collect them. I lost any sense of mortality on a hillside in Tobermory, Scotland a few years ago looking through tree branches at a channel weaving through tall hills, all disappeared into the distant mist. The journey never ends. There are simply discoveries waiting to be made.
[NEW:
The loss of any sense of mortality has been quite liberating. I had another experience much earlier in my history when hiking alone in Roman Nose State Park in Oklahoma. There were hills as far as the eye could see. In an exhilarating moment on top of the highest hill in sight, facing into a powerful wind. drinking in the view, I felt as if I was becoming a part of the view. More than that I lost any awareness of a boundary between me and the landscape and sky-scape. We were one. The view itself had no boundary, but extended endlessly in every direction. It was not a supernatural experience, just the opposite. It was profoundly natural.]
And now, full circle, you are a part-time instructor for students learning to drive? You're also a good teacher of how to look at something and really see it. There are some who look at the tree and say, yes, a tree. There are others who say Norway Spruce. And then I know a few who would add, a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branches that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. The root system is typically shallow, with several lateral roots and no taproot. On rocky sites the roots spread widely, twining over the rocks. On bog soils, Norway spruce tends to form plate-like roots.
And there you are, you and your friend, that particular tree, alike in some ways, different in others. Many know Joyce Kilmer's poem, "Trees" worth a read anytime. Fewer know Emily Dickinson's poem, "The Trees Like Tassels - hit-and swung" which is all about summer. Backyards are especially important. I watched our gardeners remove a big, old Agave this morning, clearing out a corner for a new plant. There's a larger message in that I may have to write about later.
Buckets have holes and leak but that’s okay what ever flows out returns in another way. The tree provides shade but has leakage through the leaves to let some light through.
I never really understood bucket list and have never kept one.
But that’s not to say I didn’t have dreams, suffer FOMO or compare myself unfavorably to others.
I have ideas of what I’d like to do if the opportunity arises, but I’m not attached to them, and they will have little if any bearing on my life satisfaction.
That’s a great attitude, Ryan, one that I share! I was recently hoping that I didn’t give the impression I won’t be traveling again lol. I enjoy adventure and discovery, and sometimes that takes a little planning. But planning is very different from attachment, right? Thank you so much for being here, Ryan! 🙏💚
Hello there. I’m new here, dropping by because Sydney Michalski commented on this post in Notes. A terrific post.
I’m Australian and very aware of the difference between how indigenous Australians view the land versus how white settlers view it. Us immigrants want to ‘own’ the land, the aborigines believe that the land owns them.
To me, this fits with this post - we’re all part of something so much larger. A lot of what I’m reading at the moment seems to be people exploring this concept. Maybe something in the world is changing as people realise that we can’t continue as we are. Thank you for contributing to the growing awareness. Sending heaps of hugs and best wishes.
Beth, I am so glad you stopped by! (And I see that you subscribed, too. Thank you!)
We have a similar attitude here in the US. I live on Cape Cod, the original home of the Wampanog. Many don’t realize that they are very much still here. There is a sign in my town, mostly ignored, that reads “The land does not belong to us, we belong to the land.”
Thank you. Thank you for the reminder that all lives have meaning. It is not something we need to invest so much ego into, and living fully is about so much more than bucket lists. Why do we feel the need to prove our own worth or that our one silly life mattered? I believe it’s a sick culture that encourages this individualism, making us all to want to be special in this way and I think it’s causing so much anxiety and depriving us of real contentment. Anyway, thanks for your musings on this touchy and difficult subject.
Like other’s have mentioned here, to the knowing, trees become friends, with their own life energy, their own unique morphology, and their being as metaphor for what it could mean to be human. It’s fun to read the science coming out now about the fullness of tree-ness, especially how they communicate, subterraneously, with other life. They are fascinating creatures. And if one hasn’t hugged a tree recently, or at all, they’re missing out on something ancient.
As always, thank you Don! I get to walk among the Northern California Redwoods in a few weeks—I’ll say hi for ya!
Please do say hi to the redwoods for me, Kert! I haven’t spent nearly enough time with them. I feel that there is a bonding experience still waiting for me out there.
Thanks for checking in, Kert. I really appreciate it! 🙏💚🌳
Ah, a dendrologist, are you? But my tree is a Norway maple, not a Norway spruce (I do love Norway spruce. They are a favorite!) Norway maples are actually invasive, but they’ve been here for quite a while. They are messy, dropping twigs and branches all the time!
Don, I wrote a similar piece last week -- one that focused on the fact that we do not need some big summer excursion to really enjoy the season. We just need today. We need the neighborhood tree, like you said. I love the way you expressed this concept and related it to a bucket list. Our bucket list is being checked off each moment if we're doing this life thing right. I loved this piece you wrote. Thank you!
Just read it and commented. I also meant to say that I love the title of your blog!
Thank you, Don. I agree that we had good synchronization there!
Wonderful! I will read your essay :-)
I enjoyed everything about this, starting with the pot-smoking driver's ed kid. Sometime in the past few years, I came to see/understand the essential leafness of us all--in the sense that our lives are all so short and small in the big picture of things--and it was a tremendous relief. It allowed me to let go of thinking that I had to matter so damn much. I appreciate the way you've given here to refine that and take it to a deeper way of mattering, but one that still results in release.
Thank you so much, Rita. Your comment pleases me very much! 😊💚
Very well-expressed, Don. I don’t need a bucket list, either. I love my White Oak tree and my native plant garden. I am content, and I am enough.
Perfect, Cathy! 🌳💚
Beautiful! If I were told I had a week to live I’m guessing I would want to sink more deeply into the familiar rather than chase the new and different. Not that I don’t enjoy the new and different—just interesting how that gets named as the “bucket list.” Thanks (once again!) for your writing. 😊
Thank you so much, Dan. That is a very good point you make!
I sure liked that, Don. Thanks.
And you're a Dashiell Hammett fan!!! Dang. I wish we lived closer together.
You must’ve gotten that from one of my other posts? Thanks, Charles. Great to hear from you!
You posted a list of books you've referred to in your Stack and The Maltese Falcon was one of them. That book and the Bogart movie are two of my favorite things. I'll bet you'd enjoy Eddie Muller's book DARK CITY and the completely unrelated movie entitled DARK CITY.
Dark city sounds very familiar. Not sure if it’s the book or the movie that I read/watched.
The book Dark City is a recounting of all film noir movies and it includes great pictures. The movie is a mind-blowing sci-fi/fantasy/horror/film noir mystery. Along with SNOWPIERCER, it is the only movie I've purchased from Prime Video. It is amazing.
Great essay, Don!
“You imagine that certain conditions are necessary to your happiness...” These attachments are such strong forces, aren’t they?! l realized this on a new level when we moved down to TX to care for my mom during end stage Alzheimer’s. It was challenging for a number of reasons, and I noticed how often I would think, “Gosh, I’ll be glad to have this certain stage of the journey behind me.” And then, when I would reach that point, I noticed how any sense of relief almost immediately transitioned into, “Gosh, I’ll be glad to have this next certain stage of the journey behind me!” I had been practicing contentment for many years - and here I was like a brand new student, starting all over again! Instead of learning how not to spend my present wishing for some future, I had to start learning how not to spend my present wishing it was past!🤣
“If we could only begin to see, really see, that this one lifetime is like a leaf on a tree.” SUCH an apt metaphor, so full of peace when deeply grasped.
Thank you so much for sharing, Sydney. I recognize that cycle very well!🙏💚
I have used the bucket list language and added that I have no list. I just do things as they come to mind and circumstances allow, then put them in the bucket. The way you have worded this causes me to rethink the way I say it since I don’t actually collect them. I lost any sense of mortality on a hillside in Tobermory, Scotland a few years ago looking through tree branches at a channel weaving through tall hills, all disappeared into the distant mist. The journey never ends. There are simply discoveries waiting to be made.
[NEW:
The loss of any sense of mortality has been quite liberating. I had another experience much earlier in my history when hiking alone in Roman Nose State Park in Oklahoma. There were hills as far as the eye could see. In an exhilarating moment on top of the highest hill in sight, facing into a powerful wind. drinking in the view, I felt as if I was becoming a part of the view. More than that I lost any awareness of a boundary between me and the landscape and sky-scape. We were one. The view itself had no boundary, but extended endlessly in every direction. It was not a supernatural experience, just the opposite. It was profoundly natural.]
“Profoundly natural,“ I love that! Thanks for sharing, Peter. 🙏💚
And now, full circle, you are a part-time instructor for students learning to drive? You're also a good teacher of how to look at something and really see it. There are some who look at the tree and say, yes, a tree. There are others who say Norway Spruce. And then I know a few who would add, a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branches that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. The root system is typically shallow, with several lateral roots and no taproot. On rocky sites the roots spread widely, twining over the rocks. On bog soils, Norway spruce tends to form plate-like roots.
And there you are, you and your friend, that particular tree, alike in some ways, different in others. Many know Joyce Kilmer's poem, "Trees" worth a read anytime. Fewer know Emily Dickinson's poem, "The Trees Like Tassels - hit-and swung" which is all about summer. Backyards are especially important. I watched our gardeners remove a big, old Agave this morning, clearing out a corner for a new plant. There's a larger message in that I may have to write about later.
Buckets have holes and leak but that’s okay what ever flows out returns in another way. The tree provides shade but has leakage through the leaves to let some light through.
Thanks, Richard!
I never really understood bucket list and have never kept one.
But that’s not to say I didn’t have dreams, suffer FOMO or compare myself unfavorably to others.
I have ideas of what I’d like to do if the opportunity arises, but I’m not attached to them, and they will have little if any bearing on my life satisfaction.
That’s a great attitude, Ryan, one that I share! I was recently hoping that I didn’t give the impression I won’t be traveling again lol. I enjoy adventure and discovery, and sometimes that takes a little planning. But planning is very different from attachment, right? Thank you so much for being here, Ryan! 🙏💚
Yes, planning is very different from attachment! I was excited about your recent travels—they looked lovely. I'm delighted to connect with you, Don. 🤗
Hello there. I’m new here, dropping by because Sydney Michalski commented on this post in Notes. A terrific post.
I’m Australian and very aware of the difference between how indigenous Australians view the land versus how white settlers view it. Us immigrants want to ‘own’ the land, the aborigines believe that the land owns them.
To me, this fits with this post - we’re all part of something so much larger. A lot of what I’m reading at the moment seems to be people exploring this concept. Maybe something in the world is changing as people realise that we can’t continue as we are. Thank you for contributing to the growing awareness. Sending heaps of hugs and best wishes.
Beth, I am so glad you stopped by! (And I see that you subscribed, too. Thank you!)
We have a similar attitude here in the US. I live on Cape Cod, the original home of the Wampanog. Many don’t realize that they are very much still here. There is a sign in my town, mostly ignored, that reads “The land does not belong to us, we belong to the land.”
So nice to meet you. Keep in touch!
A bucket list always makes me think of pointless homework assignments; yuck.
Thank you. Thank you for the reminder that all lives have meaning. It is not something we need to invest so much ego into, and living fully is about so much more than bucket lists. Why do we feel the need to prove our own worth or that our one silly life mattered? I believe it’s a sick culture that encourages this individualism, making us all to want to be special in this way and I think it’s causing so much anxiety and depriving us of real contentment. Anyway, thanks for your musings on this touchy and difficult subject.
Thank you, Jessica. It’s always so nice to hear from you! 🙏💚
Oof. I hadn’t realized how strongly I’ve been holding onto my bucket list until reading this. Thanks for this. A great reminder.
Thank you so much, Kim! 🙏💚
Okay fine. The usual GREAT!
Like other’s have mentioned here, to the knowing, trees become friends, with their own life energy, their own unique morphology, and their being as metaphor for what it could mean to be human. It’s fun to read the science coming out now about the fullness of tree-ness, especially how they communicate, subterraneously, with other life. They are fascinating creatures. And if one hasn’t hugged a tree recently, or at all, they’re missing out on something ancient.
As always, thank you Don! I get to walk among the Northern California Redwoods in a few weeks—I’ll say hi for ya!
Please do say hi to the redwoods for me, Kert! I haven’t spent nearly enough time with them. I feel that there is a bonding experience still waiting for me out there.
Thanks for checking in, Kert. I really appreciate it! 🙏💚🌳