Trees

Trees are a pretty important part of our lives. I realized this very clearly recently as we were raking our fallen maple leaves in the yard. They are always collected by the huge city trucks in the fall. Having thirty steps up to our house and upwards of 10 very large maples in our backyard makes getting the leaves to the street no easy feat. It's a lot of work. But I found myself looking forward to sunny Fall days to do it. And guess who joined right in?...resident tree lovers in the form of 4 Fleming kids. What a blast! Now, the leaves are gone, Thanksgiving is over and so begins the wait for the silvery light green of the Spring to emerge on our precious Maples.
Here are a few photos of some favorite trees around and the Fleming tree lovers entwined in their branches. One is the giant beech at Assumption College. Grace can even climb this one, and Fran and Will made it very high into the branches this year, with CC close behind. The other is some sort of fir tree at Wachusett Meadow that literally reaches out to us when we're there, itching to be climbed.

The Presence of Trees
by Michael S. Glaser

I have always felt the living presence of trees
the forest that calls to me as deeply as I breathe,
as though the woods were marrow of my bone as though
I myself were tree, a breathing, reaching arc of the larger canopy
beside a brook bubbling to foam like the one
deep in these woods, that calls
that whispers home