Falling in Love With a Tree

To begin with: just what does it mean to fall in love? 

 From my point of view it is kind of like this:

Something turns over in your heart

and 'very suddenly' you know 

that you are a little bit healthier

than you were five minutes ago.

You also know that whatever 

you have fallen in love with 

is not yours to keep in an ownership way.

It has been loaned to you briefly.

It is a gift for others as well.

How you respond to it is totally up to you!

Some will pass by without seeing it.

Some will photograph it without really seeing it.

Some will open to its blessing.

Some will carry it in their heart's memory.

Some will experience a sweet healing.

Others will have wonder restored in their lives.

Some will feast on the vision with gratitude.

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On my visit to New  Zealand and Australia

I absolutely fell in love with the trees.

The tree pictured below is on Red Beach in Auckland.

It is a Pohutukawa tree and I actually can pronounce it.

At Christmas time it has bright red blossoms 

so it becomes their Christmas Tree.

I was there in the season of spring and the blossoms had not yet arrived.

The tree below is one of my photographs

but the one directly below it is from Google images.

I am trying to imagine my tree now all bright 

with its red blossoms. 

When I visited Auckland we drove into

Cornwall Park and along Pohutukawa Drive

I was offered a glimpse of so many ancestral trees

that it took my breath away~~ of course these were

very short love affairs but they are now

 loving medicinal memories.

The tree below is an Algerian Oak.

It is a semi-evergreen and loses its foliage

 for short periods during winter.
I stood, in silence, simply mesmerized by its branches.

Below you will behold my beloved Jacaranda

 with its lush purple blossoms.

Sydney and its surrounding area is where I first

laid eyes on this tree.  It is not native to Australia

and I can probably find some in California 

but this was my first sighting of a Jacaranda

and I could hardly stop staring at them.  

It was here in Sydney that I first made my proclamation:

I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH A TREE!

And now I offer you the gift of this beautiful coral blossom

from a Coral tree that I met 
at Jamberoo Abbey in New South Wales.
http://www.jamberooabbey.org.au/html/home.htm

The tree below is another tree I fell in love with.

It, too, lives in Jamberoo at the Abbey.

I was there a week with the cloistered Benedictines

and spent many moments just beholding it

and saying, "Oh, my goodness!"
It is a fig tree but not the kind that bears fruit.
It bears beauty.  It sings in silence.
It was truly my goodness--tree!

There is one more little miracle to be shared.  This is a baby Jacaranda.  One of the Sisters at Jamberoo gifted me with it.  I told her I thought it doubtful I could get it through customs. Nevertheless,  I did set out on my journey to Melbourne with the little tree in tow.  In Melbourne we discerned that since it would, most likely, not make it back to the states safely, it should remain with the one who was ultimately responsible for planting the dream-seed of my trip to Australia.  It now lives with Jen and John in Victoria, near Melbourne.  It has been named, Jacqueline.  And believe it or not, Jacqueline, the Jacaranda, now writes letters to me reporting on her spiritual and physical growth.

Do you have a tree that you love?

Spend time with it soon!