Rhythm Of Breezes Bustling Through Trees - part 2
The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a city Forever, is the story of Kate Sessions. In the 1860s girls were not encouraged to study science, but Kate Sessions loved studying wind and rain, muscles and bones, plants, and especially trees. She grew up among the towering pines and woods of Northern CA, where she felt at home.
After college graduation, she taught for two years in the desert landscape of San Diego. She hunted for trees that would thrive in dessert soil and hot sun.
By 1915 Kate had single-handedly changed a desert town into one of lush green gardens. She was known as the Mother of Balboa Park.
The Tree Lady is an interesting biography about a woman who followed her dreams and her talents. She had a vision and determination to persevere despite adversity.
H. Joseph Hopkins, the author of The Tree Lady, is an American botanist, horticulturalist and landscape architect. He lives on a houseboat in Portland, Oregon. This is his first picture book.
Jill McElmurry is an acclaimed author and illustrator. She is best known for the Little Blue Truck picture book series.
Tree Uprooted
Gnarled yet still rooted,
forms patterns on moss.
Swirls of thick anchors
plunge downward then cross.
Form lairs for the wildlife
that romp in the moon.
Beds of leaves and pine needles,
Sleep all afternoon.
Nature’s elegant art work
a hidden display.
Only viewed by the creatures
that converge there to play.
by Lyn Jekowsky
We Planted a Tree is a simple, lyrical story, written by Diane Muldrow. The illustrations by Bob Staake are large, bright and joyful.
Two families in different parts of the world plant a tree. With care, the trees thrive and grow. So do the families. They learn how trees help the earth and that every little tree “helps celebrate the life and hope that all trees bring to the earth.”
This care and concern is universal.
Many of my favorite childhood books were Golden Books, such as the Poky Little Puppy, The Tawny Srawny Lion and The Saggy Baggy Elephant, a few of the over 100 children’s books written by Diane Muldrow.
A former actress and dancer, she also had a successful career as a publisher. She is the editorial director of Goldenbooks/Random House and the editor of the well-known Little Golden Books.
Ms Muldrow is also known for her middle-grade Dish Series, such as Into the Mix and Deep Freeze.
In 2009 she wrote How Do Lions Say I Love You, Where Do Giggles Come From, and How Do Giraffes Take Naps?
You may have seen an illustration by Bob Staake on the cover of The New Yorker magazine, or come across his art work in journals or company advertising. He is a children’s book author and illustrator, cartoonist and designer, and a regular contributor to MAD.
In 1998 he began illustrating children’s books. His Golden Book, The Red Lemon, was a New York Times best illustrated book of 2006. A few books he wrote and illustrated: Trucks Go Pop, The Donut Chef, This Is Not A Pumpkin. Three of the many children’s books he illustrated: Mary Had a Little Lamp, A Fire Truck Named Red, Sputter Sputter Sput.
“It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanates from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson
My writings about trees would not be complete without inviting you to explore this beautiful, inspirational book by Hannah Fries, with a foreward by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
This book is a soothing, joyful journey through nature, written for adults. The photos, prose and poetry encourage you to slow down, breathe and enjoy the wonders around you.
In Forest Bathing Retreat, Find Wholeness in the Company of Trees, Hannah Fries shares her own inspirational reflections with those of poets, naturalists, artists, scientists and “thinkers throughout the centuries and across cultures.”
Her book is arranged into beautiful segments, such as
- Breath: you are here, pause, open up, sit still, step softly, turn to the wind
- Connect: reach out, look, listen, smell, touch, taste,
be seen. - Heal: release, soothe, bend, harmony, lightness, celebrate renewal, root your spirit.
- Give Thanks: grace, invite enchantment, recognize abundance, stay humble, be awed, offer thanks, find wholeness in the company of trees
Vocabulary from Forest Bathing Retreat ( save these for Scrabble!)
dendrophile – someone who loves trees and forests
psithurism – the sound of wind in the trees and rustling of leaves
Komorebi (Japanese) – sunlight filtering through the leaves of trees
petrichor – the smell of earth after rain
frondescence – the time at which a plant or tree unfurls its leaves
solvagant – wandering alone
yugen (Japanese) – a profound awareness, beyond words, of the universe’s beauty and mystery
Hannah Fries is a poet, writer and editor. She grew up in New Hampshire and received an MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson College. Her work has been published in several reviews and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Little Terrarium is a collection of her poems. I chose this quote to describe her beautiful poems and love of the natural world.
Hannah Fries’s poems are acutely alive to the physical world in all its varied, gorgeous, and vulnerable incarnations from rain to moon snail, moosewood to worm, fox to orchid. With rich imagery and fresh detail, Little Terrarium wakes us up to all the layers of “glimmer and decay.”
—Ellen Bass
“All things share the same breath – the beast, the tree, the man . . . the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.”
— Chief Seattle