march 23, 2018

posted in: photography | 1

“When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing – just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park?” ~ Ralph Marston

 

great grandfather

 

The photo doesn’t remotely convey the size of this bur oak (although that’s a three-story house so, that might help for scale). Last week’s rehearsal took place during daylight hours and I was able to get a good look at it. Arborists have estimated the tree to be between 150-300 years old. That’s not unusual for a bur oak as they can live to be hundreds of years old, and grow up to 100 feet tall. This tree’s limbs are trimmed often to prevent them from falling into the house. It’s also been struck by lightning and still bears the scar. It’s amazing that it survived, really. It even had a groundhog living in it’s base for some time. Stacy and I were talking about bur oaks at dinner. She reckons Kentucky should make the bur oak our state tree. I can’t disagree. The old ones are especially impressive to say the least. According to UK’s Ag site, bur oaks grow well here in the Bluegrass. In fact, the “champion” bur oak is in neighboring Bourbon County. The site doesn’t say exactly what qualifies it as a champion, unfortunately. Champion or not, I love a bur oak. I guess that makes me a bonafide tree hugger. I’m good with that.

 

spring

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