Everybody loves trees!
They’re so ubiquitous as we go about our daily lives, yet we often travel to seek out the special individuals of their type.
I once fell for a post saying the tree above at Kalaloch beach had fallen from its perch. It had not. My fondness for this tree led me to great worry immediately upon hearing of its (false) demise. We’re all susceptible to fake news!
The Olympic Peninsula is home to quite a few special trees - often claimed to be the largest of their genus.
It is certainly a big tree, and a big claim to make! We take them at their word when we see a sign like this - but is it true?
In 2011 we took a trip to the Peninsula that included stops at several of the giant trees. Hmmm, I just realized how long ago that was.
Whether or not they are truly the world’s largest, they are well worth the visit. I enjoy sharing a moment with these trees and thinking about how long they’ve survived. Year after year, silent sentinels over the folly of us humans.
If you appreciate trees in all shapes and sizes, you are not alone.
For example, the Society of Municipal Arborists select their favorite Urban Tree of the Year. This year’s tree is the Hackberry, which turns out to be a very eastern tree. What about us here in the west?
One of my favorite trees is the Bigleaf Maple. They grow to spectacular size, and live up to their name. I found this particularly large leaf at work while on a stroll around the edge of the parking lot.
My favorite individual Bigleaf lives at the west end of Lake Crescent, next to the boat launch. It’s such a distinctive tree, and so easy to visit. I encourage everyone who heads that way to make the time to stop and take a look.
The champion Bigleaf Maple (as reported to American Forests) is in Oregon. There could be one here in Washington that beats out the Oregon tree, but the catch is somebody has to find it. Here are the recorded champion trees in Washington. If you’d like to learn more about the work that goes into finding and measure champion trees, check out this interview:
Ascending the Giants is on a Mission to Catalog Our Forests’ Champion Trees
If you’d like to get in on the fun of measuring champion trees, here are the instructions to get you going.
I think I’m missing the Peninsula, and that’s why I’m thinking so much about the trees. We didn’t go camping there last year. On the 11th we’ll be leaving for our Darwin Day adventure to Ocean Shores. Not the same as camping in the forest, but I’m excited at the prospect of some time away.
But wait - I’m not quite done with trees! If the idea of hunting down and measuring giant trees seems a bit daunting, maybe you would prefer searching out “odditrees.” The Odditree Society of Austin is dedicated to appreciation of peculiar nature in Austin. Not in Austin? Don’t worry! Their resource list has a few things of interest for folks that live elsewhere, and their Instagram showcases odd trees around the world. We can all keep an eye out for weird trees as we go about our lives!
All right. NOW I’m done with trees. Just one more thing I want to share today. Nolan has started posting photos of the plants they saw in South America, on Instagram and iNaturalist. I’m excited for him, and proud of the work he’s doing.
Go enjoy the trees around you!
Tidbits
Today is a rare palindrome day! 02 02 2020
150,000 Botanical and Animal Illustrations Available for Free Download from Biodiversity Heritage Library - it takes some effort to find things, but this is an amazing collection!
In a similar vein - download high resolution images of John James Audubon’s Birds of America (email sign-up required for downloads, but not to read all the information about each bird)
Perhaps you would rather download a geologic map of the moon? So colorful! (via The Map Room)
Making: just about to do two more guitar pedal bases! I love how the alcohol ink works on them.
Recently eaten: Michael made steak and mushroom pie. Yum!
Reading: Along with the Murderbot Diaries (I’m on the third one), I read Lynda Barry’s Making Comics. Lots of great group drawing exercises - you’ll be hearing from me soon, coworkers!
Videos of the Week
We are so excited for our friends Algiers, who have just released their third album and played live on the the Late Show this week. They will be touring North America this spring and I STRONGLY urge you to get out and see them if you can.
On a sad note, Andy Gill, guitarist for the band Gang of Four passed away this week. He is at his finest here in this performance from 1981. I’m sorry I didn’t get to see them live. Tip - get out and see the bands you love when you have the chance.
The time Andy Gill smacked a nazi with his guitar… I just ordered this book - Rip it Up and Start Again.
Question of the Week
If you feel like answering the question (or to just say hello), hit reply to this email. Answers will be shared next week - always anonymous. Don’t be shy!
What’s something you hated as a kid but love as an adult?
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Last week I asked what your favorite thing is about where you live.
I live in Chapel Hill, and I love college towns. Grew up in one. Even though it is pretty bougie, it has a great energy.
It's also an old house - built around the turn of the century, and it's been added on to piece by piece over the decades. My favorite thing is that it has ?charm? that newer houses don't, including established old roses and a lot of built in cabinets and funny nooks. We are renovating it ourselves: we got a new roof, we got new paint, we've pulled out and replaced ALL the plumbing, and are in the process of redoing the baroque wiring. We need new windows and doors, the interior walls were six layers of cigarette-smoke-infused wallpaper over rough fir planks, and the original hardwood floors are frankly a disaster ... We'll be living in a construction zone for the rest of our lives. Yay!
The ease with which I can lose myself in trees; the rich greens of deepest winter; carpets of moss; red and yellow stems of dogwood, maple, and willow; water, water, everywhere. The shift of the seasons stimulating a shift of perception. I feel incredibly lucky to live in a house with a garden, which is something I've never had, and this has had an effect of bringing me even closer to the natural world. And I can still take the bus everywhere!
I now call Alaska home and my favorite thing about it has definitely got to be the nature! Theres the ocean, the mountains, and so much wildlife all around.
I love the view of the mountains and rivers, and still being able to observe the curious trappings of humanity. Also moss and lichen EVERYWHERE.
My favorite thing about living here is the heady combination of mountains, ocean, and forests. Ahhh.
My favorite thing about the place I now live is is the way its beautiful scenery comes with a geologic dark side. The Palouse hills look so gentle, lush and fertile, but around and underneath them are the records of appalling chthonic forces, rivers of fire and gigantic floods orders of magnitude beyond anything we see in the world today. It makes the Palouse feel like Tolkien’s Shire, a soft and pleasant land with a much bigger and more violent world lying just beyond its borders.
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