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TOPIC: One Fine Home, One Fine Tree
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/0e485bdb9d4d379f?hl=en
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== 1 of 5 ==
Date: Sat, May 31 2008 6:16 pm
From: dbhguru@comcast.net


ENTS,

Yesterday I sent Lee Frelich the last round of tree measurements in support of the paper that will be coauthored by Lee, Don Bragg, Will Blozan, and myself. The paper will present a definitive analysis of the sine versus the tangent method of measuring tree height. Lee will take the data collected by Don, Will, and me; and accept some separate analysis being submitted by Don. Lee will then call for additional data if needed, do the basic analysis, and write the final paper. Coming from Lee, the paper will be in the proper scientific format and it will be submitted through the proper channels for peer review, as appropriately it should be - no Leverett-styled shortcuts. The time schedule for the submission of the paper is in Lee's hands.

In celebration of the completion of my part of the project, and to take a rest from measuring, today I accompanied Monica to Chester Center, a small community in the Berkshires. Monica had a piano lesson to give. Her student is a remarkable 73-year old woman who owns a Steinway baby grand piano. According to Monica, Betty Kuyk (or Winkie) is proving to be an exceptional student. Winkie is an accomplished woman with boundless energy. She has been a college teacher and is a recent author of no ordinary work. She has written a ground breaking book entitled "African Voices in the African American Heritage". The book explores African influences on African American culture. Winky draws on oral history, interviews, folklore, song lyrics, and the works of Aferican American folk artists. The work is seminal.

Winkie's husband is a distinguished English professor who is a noted scholar on the works of William Faulkner, an American author of the highest order. Dutch, as he is called, is from Roanoke, Virginia. Winkie has some southern roots also in Georgia and Virginia as a child of a military father. So for me, it was like home week - a reunion of southerners, and the southern touch was immediately obvious. Dutch and Winkie have mayapples planted in their artfully design yard. They transported May Apples from Virginia and that slightly exotic looking herb is doing beautifully in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Their mayapples were in bloom - what a glorious sight.
I walked Dutch's woods with him and identified all his native trees. They own 6 acres and Dutch had built a highly functional trail through the property. Dutch knew some of the species, but was unsure of others. As I talked, Dutch took extensive notes to include the colonial uses I mentioned of each species. Dutch and Winkie are genuinely interested in their trees from ecological, historical, and aesthetic perspectives. That combined perspective is always inspiring to me.

As I surveyed the trees that had grown up in what was an old horse pasture, I didn't see anything exceptional. Then near the end of the walk, I noticed an unusual trunk. It was a quaking aspen. I didn't have my D-tape when we did the walk, but the girth of the aspen is about 7 feet. Its height is 81 from a quick measurement with my TruPulse 360. Most quaking aspens I see in Massachusetts are quite small. Dutch's aspen is one of the largest I have seen. I think he was very satisfied with my pronouncement.

Dutch's and Winkie's home is inspiring. It is both elegant and historic, historic in the sense of an old New England house functionally designed with wide pine flooring. When Dutch and Winkie moved in, the house was in an advanced state of disrepair. Dutch and Winkie rescued a colonial treasure. The house dates to 1795.
Old houses have stories to tell. Sometimes I feel a sadness in them, as though their time has passed. But Dutch's and Winkie's house has a very good feel to it. And then there were the furnishings. Some very simple, but all appropriately arranged and functional. As I walked from room to room, surveying the arrangement of early American items of furniture and oriental paintings, the blend always made sense. It is unusual for me to take notice of such things, as Monica will tell anyone. But the home was so appropriately decorated with themes that were complementary that I couldn't help but take notice.

Most significantly for me are the extraordinary sculptures, works of African American art. The works are a result of Winkie's connections. One immediately senses a kind of aboriginal power that is projected from each piece. Two of the works fashioned from driftwood induce feelings of mystery bordering on the occult. One can't leave the presence of these African American works without the feeling that they have to be taken seriously. The two wood sculptures have a dark side, especially one. I got a slightly uneasy feeling as though the sculpture was aware of my presence. Yet I sensed that the two sculptures provide a kind of spiritual protection for the home.

Outside a spacious bay window of Dutch's and Winkie's home, in full view from the piano bench, is an extraordinary sugar maple. It is large. The D-tape stretched to 15.2 feet in girth. I seldom exceed that in Massachusetts. The tree is modest in height - about 75 feet. But that doesn't matter. It possesses a beautifully formed, multi-layered crown of emerald green. This fine tree has a presence that is both powerful and comforting. It is reassuring in an inexplicable way, perhaps as the guardian of the house and maybe an even larger space. As one approaches the maple, one's gaze is drawn into the entire space that is controlled by the tree. Its curves are artful. Gazing at it is almost transcendental. The fine maple's roots extend embracingly outward, anchoring the tree to the earth. Its trunk is of a pleasing shape and branches at about 9 or 10 feet into 3 large limbs that spread outward to create a protected space. One wants to hug the big tree, yet feels the need to approach it slowly and respectfully. Once embracing its trunk, one can look skyward through an umbrella of luxuriant foliage. I felt as if I were in the presence of a superior being, a nature spirit with a mission of protecting the house, a mission it accepted couple centuries ago. But, its work is far from finished. This wonderful tree has a lot of vitality.

Dutch and Winkie are very protective of their wonderful tree. I think they were pleased that Monica and I appreciated its beauty, its symmetry, its mix of male and female power. I left humbly, feeling that I had been privileged to be in the presence of an advanced nature spirit. I don't often have those kinds of feelings. I also felt thankful that the tree is owned by Dutch and Winkie. They are its protectors. It is their protector. It is a match that was supposed to happen.

Bob

== 2 of 5 ==
Date: Sat, May 31 2008 6:39 pm
From: Gary Smith


Bob,

Wonderful report.

A question for you. When you say 15.2 girth, I'm assuming this would
be the same as cbh. Correct?

If so, that is one heck of a maple. I was told many years ago that the
way to derive dbh was to divide the cbh by 3.1416. Is that correct?
Mathematical whiz, I'm not.

Unless I'm mistaken, that maple must be just a little under 5 feet in
diameter. I didn't know sugar maples could get quite that big.

Those folks really sound special.

Gary S.

== 3 of 5 ==
Date: Sat, May 31 2008 7:51 pm
From: "Edward Frank"


Bob,

It would be interesting if we could get people like "Winkie" and Dutch to express their impression of or their relationship to the trees on their property, like the great Maple in their yard to the discussion. We are populated by a varied group of people, but it is always interesting to hear from those with different backgrounds and perspectives about the relationships between individual trees and forests to people.

Ed

== 4 of 5 ==
Date: Sat, May 31 2008 8:44 pm
From: James Parton


Bob,

Dutch and Winkies big Sugar Maple reminds me of Mom & Ricks big Silver
Maple. I measured it to 15' 2 1/2" cbh earlier this year. Last year,
measuring it over poison ivy vines I came up with a higher figure of
15' 9 3/4". I later cut the vines away after killing them with
herbicide, helping the tree and enabling me to get a more accurate
girth measurement. The tree is 68.78 feet tall.

Unlike Dutch and Winkies Sugar Maple, this one has not been well
taken care of over the years. It was poorly pruned years back and has
quite a bit of rot in some of the areas where it was pruned. In a low
area behind the tree alot of junk and trash has been thrown there and
accumulated over the years. A while back, Rick had some of it cleaned
up but quite a bit still remains. Until last year poison ivy made it
hard to get close to the tree until I killed it and cut it away. The
tree suffered another blow last year when an arsonist caught Rick's
dad's old abandoned house on fire, burning it almost to the ground.
The side of the tree near the house was considerably damaged, but I
noticed that last week the tree had some new growth coming out on
limbs that I thought had been killed.

Mom has gained quite an affection for the tree. She has called the
tree " The Bird Motel " because of the many holes in some of the
rotten limbs. But lately she has adopted more the name I call it. The
Hayes Maple.

Dispite the tree going through some rough times, it is still an
attractive tree. I tell mom that she should feel proud having such a
large single trunked Silver Maple on her property. Obviously Dutch and
Winkie feel the same about their special maple.

James Parton

== 3 of 5 ==
Date: Sun, Jun 1 2008 5:54 am
From: dbhguru@comcast.net

Ed,

I will approach them and see if either will write about the relatioship they have to the maple. Since Dutch is an English professor who teaches literature, we can expect a pretty classy description.

Bob