For the Love of TREES!

Spring has sprung and I’m getting itchy! Yes, I do have allergies, but that’s not what I mean. I’m feeling drawn to the woods. I want to be hiking. I want to smell the trees. I want to hug a tree! I have poetry in my heart!

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

  – by Joyce Kilmer

I have been trying to get out there but I just haven’t managed it. It seems that whenever I get the chance it’s raining! So I will have to delve into the world of trees through books until I can satiate this longing. I could take a “Walk in the Woods” with Bill Bryson or walk the “Wild” with Cheryl Strayed. I have been on those treks before and love them both! But maybe it’s time to go on “Grandma Gatewood’s Walk” or get out “On Trails” with Robert Moor.

For something new, I could tag along with James Aldred, a professional tree climber (WHAT?!) who made a career out of traveling the world and filming for the BBC. His memoir, “The Man Who Climbs Trees,” is about his journeys scaling the most incredible and majestic trees in the world. And if that’s not enough, I could climb the tallest trees with Richard Preston in “The Wild Trees.”

Then again, maybe a deeper look at trees in “Teaching the Trees: Lessons From the Forest” by Joan Maloof is what I need. I could also travel back in time with “The American Canopy: Trees, Forests and the Making of a Nation” by Eric Rutkow. I could even learn why I feel this need to be among the trees with “The Nature Fix” by Florence Williams.

Maybe a good work of fiction is what I need. I could delve into “Harry’s Trees.” It would be hard to resist a book that combines a tree house, a Wolf, a small-town librarian and a book called The Grum’s Ledger.  I’ve also been intrigued by “The Overstory” by Richard Powers and the trees telling us what we desperately need to know.

Oh! I even found a book that will work for the Read Harder Challenge, task #1 – an epistolary novel or collection of letters. “Dear Bob and Sue” chronicles the travels and adventures of Matt and Karen Smith at they visit ALL of the US National Parks during a mid-career break. It is all told in the form of emails sent to their friends and family.

At some point, I WILL make it outside. I will find the time and the sun will shine. I’ll bring along “Trees of Missouri” (I had to get my own copy) and maybe “The Walker’s Companion.” Come join me! We can plant a tree; climb a tree; hug a tree!

You can find more tree focused books on this happy list, and please come to the Arbor Day Tree Giveaway at the Southern Boone County Public Library on April 27.