Dreaming of Trees

Tomorrow's the day.  I've been waiting patiently but like a kid at Christmas I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight.  I've been digging holes all week in anticipation.  Tomorrow we buy trees.  Don't get me wrong, I love the trees we have.  When I look out my bedroom window I see the most beautiful birch waving at me.  There are apple trees whose blossoms I fantasize about.  But our trees also look like this.

That's a hole in there.  With a whole new tree sprouting out of it.  Not generally a sign of stability.

Here's another tree sporting a hole of a different sort.

I couldn't capture a picture of them but there's a family of starlings living in there.

Or how about this apple tree. 

It's still standing but for how long?


These trees have had long and glorious lives.  It's likely they were planted at the time the house was built over a hundred years ago and they have served their purpose well.  The birches behind the house shade us in summer.  The apple trees produce fruit and screen our yard.  And they continue to benefit us with their blossoms, their shade and the shelter they provide to the birds around us.  But I worry when I see woodpeckers carving out holes in their trunks.  I think about the next big storm.  There will eventually come a day when the wind may prove to be too much.  And so tomorrow we will purchase not just trees but a new generation of plants that will hopefully last another hundred years and provide shelter and enjoyment to us and those who come after us.