DAY 214
11.04.07
TREE 138
I spent the night at Drew’s after our night out. We slept in and had a lazy morning. Then we drove to get some donuts and he dropped me off at my truck. On the way back to my parents place I stopped at Ballard High School to climb. I drove slowly as I went down the road towards the parking lot. A good-sized sycamore tree caught my eye. It’s growing out of the median in the middle parking lot.
That is where I used to park when I drove to school. It is also where the teachers park. I parked my truck right under the branches of the tree. The lowest limb was small and a good size to grip. Strangely, it grows out a couple of inches then shoots up straight like a young tree. I used it like a rope to get up high enough to reach the next limb which is considerably bigger in size. Another strange thing about this sycamore is the bark around the lower base of the trunk. It is grey and has the cracked formation of a dried lake bed. Then as the tree goes up that fades to the typical camouflage-like, smooth bark I am used to.
I wonder if this tree was grafted or if that is just how some sycamores are. Anyway, I climbed up to the top getting the white, dusty powder from the bark all over my clothes. It looked like I rolled on a chalk board. The higher I got the more I felt the wind. The gusts were strong and the leaves were all blowing wildly in one direction. I took a little video and some pictures and just enjoyed the ride.
When I picked my leaf I was surprised to see brown lines in arced formation on the leaf.
The arc corresponds to the stem attachment to the twig. This leaf must have been rubbing as it blew around creating those scars. Pretty cool. Then I climbed down with a lot on my mind. My trip to Portland is soon and I have to move my stuff into my parents’ in an organized way. Off to work.
11-7-08: Mmmmm… donuts. I haven’t had donuts in a while. I think I had the worst day of food in my whole life. Two reheated, old pancakes around noon, eaten by hand, no syrup. Two bowls of popcorn for dinner. Some dried apricots and brazil nuts for a snack late at night. I fell asleep in front of the TV and woke up around 2:30am feeling strange. I went to the bathroom and as I relieved myself I got this sudden feeling that I needed to vomit, and I couldn’t stand anymore. I finished and immediately laid on the floor. My body becamed drenched with sweat all over in a matter of seconds and I writhed in pain for a few minutes. I never vomitted, and eventually just took out my contacts and went to bed. I woke up feeling fine, but I tell you what… I won’t be eating like that again anytime soon, whether it was the cause of that episode or not.
Drew and I owed rent for November and I was not going to let the Postal Service waste anymore time by putting our checks in the mail box. I drove straight to my landlord’s house on Monday night after working with Norman all day. My landlord lives near Big Rock in Cherokee Park, so after dropping off the rent I drove to the parking lot, got out and looked for a tree. I walked up to one with two trunks and had this strange thought that I had climbed this tree before. Seconds went by and I was sure I had climbed this tree but it looked difficult and I was surprised that I had. The memory wasn’t clear and I couldn’t say how long it has been, but I am pretty sure I had. So I walked on over to the edge of the creek and found a nice sycamore to climb. One low branch was at stomach level and I grabbed a hold and climbed in to the trunk. Then I climbed up the chalky white branches to the top of the tree. It has been incredibly nice for the beginning of November. And it was another warm night and there were a lot of young people out at the park enjoying the night. I stayed for quite a while up in the top of the tree taking lots of pictures and looking at the moon.
I also spent a lot of time waiting for cars to drive by on the nearby road to capture their streaks of light.
There was also just a nice light out and a good feeling.
This tree was covered in seed balls. I took one picture with flash to capture them and the colors of the leaves.
I climbed down and felt good and excited of tomorrow (Tuesday, election day). I needed to get to bed so I could get up at 6 and head straight to the polls to vote.