Monday, March 8, 2010

Cedar Trees.

Here on the west coast, home of old-growth cedar stands, one sees giant trees even in the city. This area has many tall cedars; it's one of the things that most appealed to me about it, and we have a huge one in the back yard.

Cedar trees whisper, sigh, and sing in the wind - it's a sound like no other.

I was out on the deck last night, waiting while the dogs wandered the yard searching for that one elusive blade of grass upon which to pee. I stood in the dark, gazing up at the stars and listening to the trees murmuring and sighing as they moved in the wind. I find the sound almost hypnotic, and it affects me in a way I cannot articulate. It's haunting - their great size, and age, makes the human lifespan seem brief and insignificant.

I have a Native friend in the program who calls the sound of cedars moving in the wind, "the voice of the Great Spirit." Perhaps that's why it moves me so.

5 comments:

  1. I think that all trees have a connection..for me, it is the weeping willow. I feared her as a child because I was sent out to fetch a branch to get whipped with by my grandmother. I no longer fear her and my grandmother only did it to teach me a lesson which I learned quickly! :-d

    Namaste

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  2. It sounds like you like your new hometown. I am pleased for you.

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  3. I love this post. My husband and I own a piece of land that is populated by pinyon pines. I feel the same way about the sound of the wind there.

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  4. Thanks for sharing and I love the tall cedars. Hard to take, though, reading about warm temperatures in the east and south and winds blowing through the trees from the West Coast. Still got snow on the ground here in Chicago. I think Spring is supposed to be one day next week, though! Have a great one!

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  5. I agree with Kim that all trees speak to me. They are living things. I don't like to see them cut down. They provide so much other than aesthetics, such as oxygen, shade, organic matter. I especially love the great shades of green when the new leaves appear in spring.

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