February 1st, 2007
survivors
Some mornings, I don’t quite know what I’ll be writing about when I sit down at my computer. This morning, I had a couple of different ideas in mind when I began to look through my photos. Above is one that I’ve been meaning to write about for the past week or so. It’s of an Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), growing among a few other smaller and younger trees of its kind, along one of the trails at the Ferguson Forestry Centre. I believe it’s my favourite tree in the forest — with the big Wolf Maple coming in a close second.
For a Hemlock, it’s not exactly huge — in fact, there’s a much bigger one elsewhere in the forest. However, what it lacks in size, it makes up for in character. You probably can’t see this too well in the above photo, but you can click on it to see a larger version, or better yet, click on this link to see a detail of the trunk shot from another angle. Those are Pileated excavations — and scars from past excavations — dozens of them. They’re all the way around the tree and as far up as can be seen from the ground. On past occasions, I’ve tried to count them, and got up to around 200 before losing my place. There were still more higher up that I couldn’t see well enough to count. That’s the most number of excavations I’ve ever seen in a living tree. I find it quite astounding that the tree is still standing — granted, it’s minus several large branches that probably came down during ice storms. Further, it’s doing okay, still lots of green foliage, and the excavations are, for the most part, healed over. To me, this tree is a survivor in every sense of the word.
This morning, I’m reminded of another true survivor. I hadn’t heard or read any news over the past day, so didn’t know of the death of Molly Ivins on January 31, 2007, until I checked in at John’s blog, Musings from Myopia this morning. For the past few years, Molly Ivins has been the one voice that was saying what many of us were thinking — and what many other journalists appeared to be too scared to say. She was smart and brave and will be missed. Here are links to a few pages that I thought some of you might wish to visit.
* Molly Ivins page on the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Survivor’s Site.
* page about Molly Ivins at TruthOut.org.
* collection of recent columns on The Texas Observer website.
February 1st, 2007 at 7:54 pm
I heard a few days ago that Molly Ivins was back in the hospital. It was a shock to come home from work last night, check in at the computer, and discover that she had died. She was one of the half-dozen or so icons that have guided me through the worst of times. It seemed impossible that she could have died.
The Texas Observer has some wonderful photos up of her. It’s a cranky site though, which may be appropriate, and very slow, which isn’t.
February 2nd, 2007 at 12:14 am
That’s a great tree. I can’t imagine how it manages to survive after all the efforts of those pileated woodpeckers. (BTW– nice photo of yours of the pileated on Marcia Bonta’s site.)
It is disheartening to read about Molly Ivin’s death. She had a fantastic perspective and a wicked good sense of humor. Roger and I had an opportunity to meet her once, when she agreed to address a handful of students a few hours before she was scheduled to address a much larger venue in town. She was bigger than life, had enormous presence, and a great joie de vivre. She will be missed.
February 2nd, 2007 at 3:27 am
Bev, I’ve had all day to think about Molly and the enormous impact she had on political thought. As Robin Andrea said, she was bigger than life. Thanks for the links, too; they are great resources about her and her influence. Molly Ivins was one amazing person.
February 3rd, 2007 at 2:58 am
Wayne – Thanks for mentioning the photos of Molly Ivins at that link. There were some wonderful photos of her.
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robin – Yes, it’s difficult to believe that this tree has continued to prosper despite all of the woodpecker excavations. Obviously, it’s had some kind of insect invasion as well. It’s got to be one tough tree to have lasted this long!
It must have been wonderful to be able to meet Molly in person. I can only imagine what she must have been like.
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John – Thanks. I see you’ve put together a nice tribute on your blog. Yes, I think she had a terrific impact on political thought — and she has been such a strong voice during these last few years when it has been so needed.
February 4th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
This post strikes a chord with me Bev, I’ve always had the idea of doing a photographic series on tree survivors over here. I’ve seen some wonderful examples in the red and spotted gums in Gippsland, they have an amazing ability to heal themselves after severe injury.
February 5th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Duncan – I think that would be a great idea for a series! I’m always interested to see how trees manage to overcome damage