DAY 334
03.03.08
TREE 160
Last weekend, Sebastian Moh and Lynn Thomsen’s show came down at the Mary Anderson Center. My job as Gallery Attendant there has called me to the Mount for repairs. I did a little sanding and spackling then called it a day. Norman wasn’t there so I didn’t stick around. I left the Mount and went down the road to the shopping center with the gym and chiropractor’s office. It was clear earlier in the day but I wanted to wait until the forecasted rain started. The reason for this is my paranoia of being hassled. The tree for today is on the edge of a wooded area on private property that has NO TRESPASSING signs on the perimeter. I figured, if it’s darker, raining, and generally nasty, they (whomever they might be) will be less likely to one, be looking outside, and two, go after me if they do. So I parked in the back of the lot and entered into the woods.
Last time I hadn’t seen the signs before I got on the property and just walked on the grass at the edge of the woods.
I wasn’t going to risk that this time. I struggled through the maze and mess of thorn bushes. It sucked and my legs stung a little by the time I got to my tree. At the base of the trunk I couldn’t see the ribbon I had tied, but I am getting used to that. I just started to climb.
I stepped up onto the split in the trunk and pulled myself up by grabbing one side. I wedged my foot in between the trunks a little higher and rotated around the right trunk until I could reach the first limb. I shimmied up a little bit more so I could get my foot on it. Then from there I used branches to climb. It was nice, this time, that they were not all soaking wet since the light rain had just started. I reached my ribbon, which was actually still there, and I took it off.
Then, determined not to be disappointed like before, I attempted to go higher. With my ever-increasing abilities I reached, squirmed, and inched ever so much as to hook my arm around the branch I had tied my ribbon to, then reached for another limb with my other hand. I pulled myself up and then from there transferred back to the other side of the tree.
A few limbs grew out but the main leader was nothing but a grey, dead shard. So I took a nice seat and felt great for finally finding a tree I could improve on.
So many trees I have been reclimbing I made it to the very top. No chance for going higher and no tree transfers. It’s been hard to reach new heights. I’ve had to be satisfied with faster and more efficient climbs, or just feeling less scared the second time around. But in this tree I got higher and I was not disappointed.
I took pictures and tried to make the tree sway a little. Which it did ever so slightly. Then I climbed back down, slid to the split, and jumped to a hole in the thorn bushes. With my objective over, my paranoia had been replaced with a feeling of accomplishment and excitement.
I trudged back through the thorns energized and happy.
3-13-09: Still 10 days behind! I can do IT!!! Here we go…
The Mary Anderson Center received a grant for a series of exhibitions back in 2007. I was still working and living there so I agreed to be the official Gallery Attendant even though the year long commitment went well past my tenure there. The position expired in June of 2008, and I sometimes miss going back there more regularly. The Mount is truly a magical place and only 15-20 minutes from Louisville. I recommend the visit.
I don’t recommend going on people’s private property. I wouldn’t have had I seen the signs the first time around.
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Now, I believe I am to the recent climbs back in Louisville. Your friendly tree-climber has since returned from his month long trip to Boston and New York and is back to the daily grind. On March 3rd 2009, I hopped on my badly missed bicycle eager to go for a ride and find a tree. I headed to the Beargrass Creek Trail then over to the intersection of Cherokee Road and Grinstead Avenue. There is a cliff there with a collection of nice looking trees at the bottom grassy area next to the road.
I had spotted them in the past and figured this day would be the day to check them out. What I saw was a lot of damage. Every where I went, trees leaning, laying, hanging, jagged, torn, stripped, ravaged. The ice storm really did a number on our trees.
None of the trees next to the cliff called to me so I crossed the street to the Cherokee Golf Course. I crossed a goose shit covered green and A tree called to me. It was large and tall and just at the bottom of a wooded slope. The course path ran just below it.
I went to the base of the large trunk and started to strategize my entry.
The size was too big for a shimmy and the branches too high for a trunk run. I circled around back and forth imagining different entries and coming up short in all them.
I was almost ready to look for another tree when I realized I forgot one key method of entry… monkeying in on an overhanging limb. And there it was!
The slope of the hill and the droop of the branch made it so I could reach the end. I carefully tested its strength by pulling the limb down and inching my hands up. I lifted my feet off the ground and I bobbed. The branch held me and I hooked my heels and started to crawl into the trunk. When I passed the trunk of the nearby tree I rotated my body to the top of the branch and went the rest of the way scooting on my butt.
At the trunk I began the typical branch to branch climb all the way to the very top. I have yet to determine whether trees call to me because I can quickly sense if I can get to the top, or if the tree knows I can and asks me to try. I looked around me in the tree and saw a few hanging limbs
and some light tan shards where the small, high limbs had snapped under the icy weight.
I looked closer at the one I was leaning on and saw the moisture had drained from the end and formed icicles underneath.
(Later in the day I met up with Norm and we walked around the park for a couple hours. We found another icicle formation on a sugar maple. It was my hypothesis that if the tree is named a "sugar" maple that wouldn’t the frozen water from the inside be sweet? We broke off pieces and sure enough they were.)
Then I looked out from my high perch at the course and pond below.
There were geese grazing and waddling towards the water.
Cars were constantly coming and going on the busy road
and I looked for my locked up bike by the cliff.
It was sunny that day but there was a strange haze. I looked at the sun and it was diffused.
I looked back down at the path below me often to check for golfers. It was nice but chilly and I hadn’t seen anyone out yet. But sure enough, a guy came walking by. I had no doubt he wouldn’t see me so I felt fine taking his picture as he went by.
Then I called Norm to tell him I was back in town. He called minutes later to say he was done with what ever he was doing before and ready to head my way. I started to make my way down the tall tree so I could meet him at the corner.
I crawled back down the low drooping limb and dropped to the sloping ground. I walked to the path and away from the tree looking back often to take some pictures and let the accomplishment really sink in.
It was the perfect tree to welcome me back home.