Hi everyone, this week I’m sharing an essay I wrote when I was somewhat younger and prone to wondering about nature. This particular one is about the different trees I encountered in those first few years after I moved to New Zealand. I hope you enjoy it…
Have you ever seen a tree?
I mean… looked at a tree! It’s a fascinating natural phenomenon. Look at it closely!
If you see it from a window, you see a shape of green with a long dark trunk beneath. Sitting in a car seat you see passing trees as protruding shades of greenery into a pastel blue sky as the clouds race by. Then there are trees in the seasons!
Wintertime – bare branches! Not a leaf for miles around! Unless you happen to run into an evergreen..they have leaves in all seasons!
Autumn – leaves fall off and pile on the ground, some are still there, the trees look like they’re being dressed up for show and tell… a leaf here…a flower there…some birds twittering on a limb… winds blowing the leaves below!
Summer – life abundant! Blossoms of flowers, birds nests and rich greenery!
Spring – life just coming to bloom… small buds of colour, sweet scents of growth…everywhere the nests on high branches have new cries of life!
That’s only the beginning!! What about the types of trees? The pines? Spruce? Mahogany? The mighty rimu and rata? These giants of trees!! Not very hard to miss! Shapes and sizes vary.
The smell!! Some… you can see sap trickling down them too. Looking closely you can see the bark itself! Like our skin… it peels off after a well-deserved sun-tan!! Hey… look out! Don’t forget… roots!! Sometimes these grow so long you can feel them just as you see the top of the tree! From some trees the roots can be seen extending out like old Aunt Hilda’s giant lap with leaves blanketing them just like her mighty apron!
So you see…a tree is not simply….just a tree…
It’s a wonder of nature…a world of natural beauty!!
By Surani Ramachandra
Well, that’s what I encountered back in my twenties as I took the bus to and from university. (I think!!) Since then, whenever I visit another part of Auckland or even New Zealand, I’m the crazy person who takes photos of trees, bushes, mountains, and random parts of the natural world!! It’s amazing what you see when you put your devices down and look around you!!
Hope this post gives you another snippet into the craziness that fills my life at times!!
Stay safe and keep reading
Miss Mahee
Miss Mahee's Library of Reads 