DAY 95

DAY 95
07.08.07
TREE 6

I walked with Rachel down to the lake. On the path and over the bridge to tree number six. The forest is thick and green and forest floor overgrown. These reclimbs are really bringing back the images of my first week here. Discovering the grounds and traversing the forest floor with almost limitless visibility. Now I’m limited to the paths. I sweat in shorts and t-shirt and can barely see through all the leaves. Especially in the tree. Last time I was extremely sore and found myself lying in the treetop looking down into the creek that feeds the lake. This time the climb up was routine. Easy movements known and sure. Hands rough with calluses, and in a relatively small tree my fear is absent. I get to my mark hopeful of the view I remembered. But it was covered in green. Down, out, up… no matter. What were once seedlings are now huge green leaves. Once on the ground I even struggled to get a full picture of the tree. Too much in the way. It makes me appreciate the cold months. I climbed a little higher than my mark. Rachel climbed below me. Then we headed back down. No close calls, my holds secure. A good climb but slightly clouded in the disappointment of comparison.
7-9-08:  That little seedling just above is from the first climb.  It is not the correct size compared to the leaf, it should look much smaller and the leaf a little bigger.  But you can definitely see the drastic difference from grey to green in the photos at the top.  Though climbing in bitter cold hurts the hands, the structure of the trees are clear and visible, forests can be crossed without obstruction, and the long layered clothes actually protect my skin from cuts and scrapes.  Anyone who knows me has seen my arms and legs covered in cuts, scars, and scabs.  Father Paul suggested I wear long sleeves and pants.  I just can’t do it in this summer heat and humidity.  I’ll deal with the minor injuries.  My body still heals pretty well.  And scars remind me of good climbs. 

One last thing about last years climb, I really was bummed I couldn’t see the stream going by underneath me.  It wasn’t one of the best climbs but I remember it as one of my favorites because it was so peaceful and restful.  The top of the beech tree justs bends over making the perfect place to lay on your stomach and stare down.  I love summer but I can’t wait for fall.  It’s a death wish, though, because it brings us that much closer to winter.  Which I do love, especially when there is snow.  The harsh cold I could do without.  You know it’s bad when a good tree climb doesn’t warm you up.

I believe I am now onto Monday’s climb, July 7th.  I helped Norman do work at Sarah Frederick’s place for 7 hours.  Hard manual labor digging post holes.  I had a little flat spade and had to work through dirt, gravel, black top, and clay.  The fence with lattice work is beautiful.  It’s made of rough cut cedar and Norman does some real fine work.  Afterwards he came with me to climb a tree downtown.  We walked from my apartment to look for a decent climb.  We found a weeping tulip poplar.  I don’t remember ever seeing one and Norman hadn’t either.  It looked just like a normal poplar except all the little offshoot limbs off the main branches were thin from beginning to end and hung straight down like vines.  It was a massive tree and even with Norm’s boost I couldn’t reach or shimmy to reach the first branch.  We walked some more and finally found a decent but smaller tree on Main Street.  I asked Norm to video me and told him to say what he wanted.  He laid on the grass and I jumped into the limbs.  It was pretty quick climb and I could hear Norm saying stuff and I was excited to see the video and hear what he said.  At one point a guy walked by, paused, saw me and asked Norman, “What’s this jackass doin’?”  This jackass was climb a tree stupid (I didn’t actually say that… or anything).  Well I climbed back down and Norm stopped the video.  I hit play and was disappointed to see I had forgotten to change the settings back from 5x speed.  So the whole climb was filmed fast and with no audio.  Oh well, I learned my lesson, check first.