Old apple trees, bears and grandchildren
At our home near Ely, we have an apple tree planted probably 30 years ago. It is looking pretty pathetic these days, (likely partly due to neglect that comes with being busy doing other things). A few of the bigger branches have died in the past few years leaving a lopsided sickly looking tree. But it still tries…
I remember when we planted it, we were just barely adults starting a family, (totally out of our element in so many ways as I think about it now).
People said the tree would never bear fruit unless we had two of them. In those days splurging 30 bucks on one tree was hard to justify. So we just had the one tree. In hindsight of course we all know the best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago and maybe a second tree would have been a good life choice…
I don’t remember a year when it didn’t have apples and usually more than it seemed it could hold.
There were two main branches left over the last couple years. I looked out one day and saw these bears climbing it to reach the apples. I walked out there and waited for them to notice me watching. I was ready to tell them it’s time to go but they got the idea I guess when they saw me standing there.
The branches survived those bears but a few weeks later the one branch seemed to have broken under the weight of its own fruit. Maybe the bears were back but I saw no evidence of it.
I started this thinking I could weave this into a parallel with myself and aging etc but now that seems like a bit of a reach and probably an undesirable comparison.
It occurs to me though, I don’t think the tree knows or cares that it is old. It just goes about it’s business of producing apples as best it can.
So maybe that is the lesson of the apple tree.
A lot of days I do feel like I am just starting and I am still young, (or at least I don’t feel old). Those are the times I need to grab hold of and run with. Maybe someday it will be apparent in some way that that intention and energy will have brought forth something that mattered. But all I can do now is keep going.
On the other hand, we will all just get old and die.
But sometimes it helps to try to be poetic or philosophical about it all and if we can bring some incredibly cute young bears into the story, better yet.
Anyway I guess that’s the best I could come up with today.
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Visiting grand kids again few weeks ago.
This always leads to a bunch of sketches in a small sketch book that I try to keep with me. A lot of these are drawn from life. Very crude and loose but somehow I like their energy. Children and dogs and toys. Some are “fixed” a little later using reference pictures on my phone.
Sometimes I think all my sketch practice is just avoiding doing something larger and more presentable in a body of finished works. And my frustration with oils adds to the procrastination. A wise mentor, (Steve Huston(opens in new tab)), makes a point of keeping forefront in our mind: “preserve the joy”.
So this past week I grabbed a photo from the recent trip and decided to go at it with charcoal and a large sheet of Stonehenge paper. I have no plan, just having fun working with and creating shapes. There is some work left to be done but I am enjoying how it is progressing.
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