Month: September 2008

DAY 157
09.08.07
TREE 71

Finally the day of my opening. Cassandra and Jason got in late last night and I got up early excited about the day to come. I had a couple little things to take care of but really just spent time with my friends. We ate and I gave them a tour of the buildings and grounds. They didn’t get much sleep either so after my tour we all went back to the house for a nap. I got to my room and decided to get some more stuff done instead of sleeping. One of these things was climbing my tree. Thankfully it was just out the front door along the driveway. A nice big beautiful tree with expansive limbs, but not too big and far apart to make for an impossible climb.

I got up on the first low limb and used some overgrown knots to get up to the second branch. This was the most difficult part of the climb technically, but since I was still so close to the ground, it was no big deal. A I went up, the limbs got smaller and more numerous. I was able to transfer pretty easily across a few main limbs.


I got up to my marker ready to take some shots.

I had a nice view of a tree just across the drive.

I was almost at the same height in this tree as I had gotten in that one. But other than that view, there wasn’t much to see for all the leaves.

So I moved to another branch further out towards the chapel. It had a great little spot where 4 limbs split and it made an incredible comfortable seat.

I was reclined, with both arms resting on branches and my feet up. I got so comfy I closed my eyes and I fell asleep. I can only imagine that it was just seconds later when I woke. My eyes opened wide and I had this sudden thought that sleep in a tree 40 or 50 feet up way out on a limb may be a stupid thing to do. So I shook off my sleepiness and sat, taking in the view, the sounds, and thought about how amazing this spot is, this tree is, this place is, this time in my life is, and this night will be. Thank you Mount St. Francis and the Mary Anderson Center.


And I am very happy I came up with this project. This resting place on this branch is one I will definitely visit again. I climbed down, dropped and rolled and took some more pictures. Then I walked to the house rejuvenated and ready for my opening.


9-8-08:  I wish I had more pictures from that night.  Especially all the people that came.  That was such a good day.  This is one of those days where I look back and think September 8th of 2007 was way better than this day is going in 2008.  Granted this is a Monday and that was a Saturday.  I am also at my parents all week working on my bodies.  And the fiber glass cloth and marine resin is nasty stuff.  It’s good to be working though, they are really coming together.

Yesterday’s climb was kind of … blah.  It was getting late and I wanted to climb before it got dark.  I went out to the back yard of my parent’s place and searched around.  I have climbed most of the climbable trees here so it is slim pickings.  I did spot this young maple and thought, "have I climbed this?"  I knew I climbed a small maple around here but I don’t think it was this one.  The limb pattern didn’t look familiar.  I am pretty sure if I thought hard enough I could remember every tree I’ve climbed, so I was pretty quick to determine this a virgin tree for me.  So I climbed the trunk like a flag pole up the the small branches.  Some of these branches were so little I was nervous they wouldn’t hold much weight.  Luckily I had no breaks.  I got up high, but not to the top for fear of bending.  I have bent trees down but I thought my dad wouldn’t really like that on his property.  Plus I didn’t have much place to go if I did start to bend down to the ground.  I squeezed tightly to the small tree and took my shots.  






I climbed back down to the ground and felt little for that climb.  It was what it was and nothing more.  Another tick in the streak.