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This spring, as I do every spring, I visited
“My Cherry Tree”, an ancient tree prominently positioned in the parking lot of a
major Portland office building complex. At one time this tree graced the front yard of a
small farm. I have never found any cherry tree with larger or more numerous blossoms. It
is spectacular. I never met the people who planted this tree, but I think of them fondly. |
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| I hope they enjoyed the beauty of this tree as much as I do. I
wonder if they every imagined that so many people would enjoy their efforts for so many
years after they were gone? Several years ago, David and I traveled to a
small eastern town where I was to present a program of floral design. Inspired by an
abandoned farmstead, I wrote the following story. This is the first time that it has been
published. |
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We stumbled onto the long abandoned farmstead by
accident. The small town where I was scheduled to speak was not where our maps said that
it would be. We were lost. Within a single mile of a bustling freeway, we were lost, and
on a country road in farm country. David pulled the rental car off to the side of the road
at a wide spot beneath a row of ancient oak trees. I have never been good with maps, so
while David studied and steamed over the inadequate handwritten directions and the
scribble of a map provided by our host I stepped out of the car to stretch. It was several
hours until I was to speak and there was no hurry. But, I was tired from too much travel,
uninspired and worried about my ability to speak and design well that evening. |
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