shall be like a tree

It is 2018. What about the two trees laying in our yard?

Just look at the exposed roots.

Jan called the trees DEAD.

One day in Spring I notice feathers of green fuzz. Then the smallest buds.

  Shoots unfurl. Leaves fan out on the parallel trunks. In spring of 2018 shade is created. The space is a place to explore and be inside tucked away from sight. Yessss.

The two trees full of leaves in 2018 are tied to the activity of God.

The one who delights in the way of the LORD, who considers and takes to heart His instruction WILL BE ---

like a tree planted by the rivers of water...  that brings forth its fruit in its season... whose LEAF will not wither... and whatever one does will prosper.   book of psalms, chapter one, verses two and three

Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD... and whose hope is the Lord. One will BE LIKE A TREE.... PLANTED BY THE WATERS... spreading out its roots down by the stream. One will not fear when the heat comes. But its leaf will be green!! And will not be anxious in the year of drought... nor will it cease from bearing fruit.       book of jeremiah, chapter seventeen, verses seven and eight

 
The two trees are a word picture for me. 
A reminder of whose I am. 
Who my Keeper is.
The LORD is active  alive.
He has planted me - waters me - 


The trees are alive and green in 2018 and will be also in 2019.



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in her palace - summer 2018

The day comes... My great nephew wants to show his sister Uncle Karl's tree fort.

There are too many leaves for the boy. So he walks all the way around to the backside, where the entering is easier.

His sister Bri finds the camouflaged entrance and boldly walks in, moving the leaves out of her face as she walks. Down the slope to its interior. Way to go, girl!!

 A stump becomes a table. She arranges the flowers she has picked. Choice sticks. She is in her palace, she tells me.

The boy figures out the ladder. Tad climbs up -- strong arms and legs -- up -- high -- to the high loft.

His blonde head appears, eyes peering down at me -- from side platform up high.
I coax him to stand and hold on to the trunk. No, not this time. He is up where I wish I could be. I am happy that he is delighted.

He goes up and down -- eventually three times. Way to go, Tad!

 Surrounded by leaves, she stands on the low loft.

Bri makes a shelf -- she sets a piece of wood with a bent nail -- to make a place to hang her coat. She is in her zone, in her palace.

Tad sets to repair a broken support for this walkway. He figures it out himself. Yes! Done!

Bri wants to come back again.

 My joy is complete. Both Bri and Tad enjoy the tree fort.


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bruise - july 2017

When working outdoors on the "tree project" -- I bend and stoop to duck under thick branches -- as I move through the tree fort space -- on ground that slopes beneath my feet.

Being constantly aware of what is above me, beside me, or below me is important.
When I am rested and alert -- the work is the best.



One minute. Videos convey my work space within the tree area. Here, hammering.



  

Two minutes. Good audio. Branches I have cut to re-nail elsewhere.




Three minutes.

I found broad limbs that could bear my weight. The climber-in-me was delighted to work from within the tree. Sturdy footing, a brace branch held me as I leaned into it, and arms and hands reached successfully. Long boards slipped into place.


A high platform for one smaller than me. Only five feet above the ground. Something to sit on, and feel the platform sway in the breeze. My goal. Yes.


ONE DAY IN JULY:  the high rafter boards were finally secured -- it had been a great morning. Four hours of accomplishment. Awesome!!! 

I was more tired than I knew. Deciding to work just a little bit longer I climbed back up to my perch. See journal moments, next. -- I lost my balance, slipped off my perch, and fell to the ground.

On the sloped ground was a step-stump. My upper left arm smacked it. Laying still, catching my breath.
Thinking how my mother Dorris might have just got up and walk two blocks to the hospital and admit herself.....
Not me. I called my wife on the cellphone. If I was able I should come into the house and show her my arm. I did. She told me there was not bleeding. It was bruise.

My brother Paul later told me I was lucky the bone did not break.

July 7th, 2017    bruise red scrape

July 13th, 2017   bruise blue

Time later after healing -------- I realized being tired or going too long without a lunch break wasn't for me. I went and bought a two step ladder.

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That Winter all the leaves fell off. Higher platform looked like this. 

Will the leaves return in the Spring? My wife says the tree is dead. 

Is it????

Wait till Spring.......

high rafter - june 2017

It's been one month after the two trees fell.

When I was a lad, I remember climbing up and down the pin oak tree at 199 College Avenue in Seward, Nebraska. I loved being up high. Being safe in a tree with ladder-like branches. Exploring, climbing, all by myself. 
Doesn't everybody do this? 
My great-nephew does not. 
Me on the trike, my brother Paul on the wagon, below.

At 62 years, the boy who climbed up and down - the boy who made forts - this boy-inside now-so-much-taller-and-able I am letting my imagination wander.
This place in my backyard. --- What might I make for myself, to share with my great-nephew? 
What will my tree fort look like?


 

Cutting sturdy limbs with my hand saw.
Nailing a cut branch to make a cross piece. Build. Imagine. Wonder. 
Out in the green of THIS. Out in THIS. 
Yeaaaaaaa !!!!

Parallel limbs - just a few feet off the ground. What will I make? Time to go get wood from the lumber yard.

Something low -- just off the ground. Camouflaged by leaves. Something I would have loved to have. I built this for me.

Single plank up high. Threaded through the branches. A book mark. Is that where I want the rafters to be?

Five minutes. Missouri artist shares his plans for rafter.

M.G.N, my-great-nephew came by and built with his own hands, below.

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