Anne here, and today, for something a little bit different, I'm going to talk about trees. I'm very fond of big old trees and spent much of my childhood up in a tree, dreaming, or reading or surveying my imaginary kingdon. I remember once, when we moved house and I was feeling really unhappy about it — it was in the city, and having come from the country where I roamed far and wide at will, I didn't like the look of all those cramped streets and houses and roads.
But then I found a big old tree in the back yard, behind the garage, and I immediately climbed it and found a spot to sit in it and gaze out over the rooftops, and that made me feel much happier.
This is a favorite painting by a favorite artist, Anita Klein and I think you will see why I love it so much.
When Europeans came to this country a couple of centuries ago, they set about cutting down thousands of big, ancient trees. That legacy horrifies me, even though I understand that they needed to clear land to grow food, and that the native hardwood timber was good for building, but even so, some of the old photos are so devastating to look at, knowing that they cut down trees that were hundreds of years old.