Merry Christmas

 

The little gum tree I planted when I arrived here two years ago has burst into flower just in time for Christmas. 

May you have a year of joy, peace and health. 

Shedding the past

Shedding bark

Shed bark

Some Australian gum species shed their bark in summer.  They become works of art as the bark peels off and lies multi-coloured around them.

Once the process is complete, they stand naked in the woods, pink among their clothed-in-grey neighbours, until the weather blends them into their environment again. They become larger and stronger. The material they shed material provides mulch and fertilises their continued growth.

As I watch the cycle, I wonder if there are lessons for us there?

Naked wood

Magnificant Gum Hits the Ground

The sound of a chainsaw has been echoing over my back fence for the last two days.  Yesterday a man hung from the huge and magnificent gum in my neighbour's back yard and sawed off branches one by one. They made enormous thuds as they fell. There were a couple of branches left by the end of the day and I hoped that the tree had just been trimmed but today they were back and now all that stands is a trunk.

This was a gum tree, huge and magnificent.