Arboreal.
It is such a good word, with so many good members.
adjective | ahr-BOR-ee-ul
Definition
1 : of or relating to a tree : resembling a tree
2 : inhabiting or frequenting trees
Whenever I am with a bunch of trees, there is a special feeling that comes over me. It always feels peaceful. Which shouldn’t be a surprise. They are truly ancient beings. Trees are the longest living organisms on Earth. And believe it or not, they never die of old age. There is something called the Old List, and it is a database of ancient trees that officially tracks old trees, their species, and where they are located. There is a tree called Methuselah, from California’s White Mountains, that comes in at over 4,800 years old.
They are old and they’ve been a lot of places, done a lot of things. All over the world in fact. If you’ve ever “knocked on wood”? It comes from ancient pagan worshipers. They used to tap or knock on trees to summon the protective spirits that resided in them.
And all those places? Take Pine Trees. Pine trees grow on six of seven continents. The holdout is that chilly Antarctica. But that isn’t the biggest news about them. Pine cones have genders. Mr. and Mrs. Cone. Male pine cones shed pollen and female pine cones make seeds. When the wind revs up and blows, that pollen from the boy cones flies into the female cones. And there, as you may have guessed, the seeds become pollinated.
Finally, we have good tree stories all around us. This photo is a walnut Mary found buried in our yard. It started to sprout its own little tree. Mary brought it inside, to show me.
Somewhere, there is a very angry squirrel.
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“What you stay focused on will grow.”
― Roy T. Bennett
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“When you stop growing you start dying.”
― William S. Burroughs, Junky
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“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”
― Lao Tzu
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