WNTS/ENTS- I feel like I’ve been trying to catch up for weeks now. Here it is mid-August and I’m still pulling out snippets of Rick Bass’s “The Wild Marsh” [Copyrighted 2009; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Boston, New York) from the June chapter, this time on page 165. Here Bass tries to give the often neglected Larch tree its due: “The needles on the larch trees, those ancient, primitive trees that are both one thing and yet another- the world’s only deciduous conifer- are just now beginning to grow, surging on the sudden leap of June sunlight, even though in ten to twelve weeks they will be done growing, will be dying already, gold by August, September at the latest. The larch attack the summer, with their vigor and beauty, like a man and a woman who have been told they have only one day left to live, and all the rest of the forest, in June (and every other month), acknowledges their strength and beauty and bravery”. Personification for sure, but for those in Northern climes, the intensity with which wildlife go about getting their life underway in the short period allotted them is a wonder to watch. Even now, in mid-August this morning I awoke to a gaggle of Canadian geese honking close overhead, signaling their reluctance to be getting underway again. And so it was, I gazed with some degree of chagrin at the snowblower sitting complacently in the corner of the garage...it's season not far off.Towards the end of the month, when summer wanes and leaves color the woods, Mr. Bass has more to say about larches and their 'fittedness'... -Don _________________________________________________________________ Express your personality in color! Preview and select themes for Hotmail®. http://www.windowslive-hotmail.com/LearnMore/personalize.aspx?ocid=PID23391::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HYGN_express:082009 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
