DAY 336
03.05.08
TREE 167
I awoke hung over on Drew’s couch this morning. The TV was on and the pundits were talking about Hillary Clinton’s come back. She won Ohio, Rhode Island, and Texas. How did I miss that last night? It must have been the Barleywine. And it took me a while laying on that couch to recover from my fog. When I finally got up and left it was well into the afternoon. I had more work to do at the Mary Anderson Center and had made some dinner plans with Norman.
I parked by the Clay Studio, as usual, and wrote in my journal.
Then I decided I would climb my tree before I did any work. I walked across the soggy field in the sunshine. I looked ahead to the woods trying to spot the white limbs of my sycamore. I spotted one but didn’t see a pink ribbon at the top. Upon closer inspection I realized I had the wrong tree. What I did find was a styrofoam cooler that Norman uses as a recycling container up at the Clay Studio. It must have blown from the kiln pad in one of our recent storms. I picked it up and carried it with me along the edge of the woods towards the lake.
Finally, I spotted the right sycamore and put down the cooler to climb.
It occurred to me as I began to pull myself onto the lowest limb that the weather conditions of today are almost identical to that day I climbed this tree the first time.
With many trees I have purposely waited till dark or climbed in the rain to havea stark contrast from the original climb. But upon further thought, having identical conditions may heighten the subtle differences such as progression of the seasons within three months time. So I climbed without hesitation, struggling only in maneuvering around the entangling dead vines that entwined the tree.
At the top I marveled at my previous accomplishment. I was very high up on little branches.
Luckily sycamores are incredibly strong trees. In my short time in the tree service I never once saw a fallen sycamore. I asked fellow co-workers more senior in the business and they agreed, it was rare. Even the old, dead, and hollowed-out giants hold on by the incredible spiraling structure of the wood fibers. I felt very comfortable moving my body rhythmically back and forth to start the tree top to sway. I took pictures
and then watched Emily take a walk towards the lake. I waited to see if she’s notice me but she never did. Then after swaying a bit more I began my climb down. It was a good high climb, somewhat challenging in spots, but for the most part average.
3-16-09: There have been many times when I have been in a tree and seen people I know below. I watch and don’t always announce my presence. Most of what I observe is banal like people walking to a building or their cars. Mostly they are not talking to themselves and if there was sound I probably couldn’t hear it. But I have never been in a situation where I felt I was witnessing something I shouldn’t. I wonder what my reaction would be. Would I look away and avoid that quintessential peeping tom posture? Or would I embrace the situation and my unique point of view as hidden observer?
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On Thursday, March 5th 2009, I was eager to get on my bike and go climb a tree in the day light. Plus, with a photo project in the works, I wanted to go scout for some shooting locations in the day light since I plan to shoot at night. I talked with Josh again and asked him to join me. He agreed to come along and we biked down River Road to Eva Bandman Park. There is the 7 tree transfer I had done back on August 18th 2008 that I thought would be good for my photo shoot.
But when we got there the ice storm had taken it’s toll on the small trees. A larger tree had cracked and fallen on two of them. And the two right next to the water were now leaning more towards the water and away from each other. I tried to replicate my path but couldn’t get from the first tree to the second. I just had to search elsewhere. I looked behind me and there it was. A fallen tree that splits into two main branches, each of which were leaning against two smaller trees on the edge of the water. With Josh there, I asked if he would film me as I went. At the base of the large fallen tree I prepared as Josh told me the camera was rolling.
As you can see, the shimmying was an effort. I forgot to roll down my right pant leg from biking and my calf got a little scraped up. If you had trouble hearing my words or seeing the details of the damage in the top of the tree, let me explain. The right branch was more intact whereas the left was badly splintered and split. But this left branch was more securely leaning against the smaller tree. I started to go out the right but just couldn’t see a safe transfer to the tree it was leaning against. So I changed directions. Unfortunately the memory in my camera ran out and didn’t capture the entire climb. I did successfully transfer to the trunk of the tree and slid fluidly down to the ground. Climb successful. It was so fun and scary I think I might try that for one of my photoshoots.
After I was done, I believe I inspired Josh to climb and he scaled a small tree. He went to the very top and out a branch and transferred down to the another limb.
It was a great climb I would have loved and I was happy I got a few pictures of it.
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