" A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of humane life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit." D. Elton Trueblood

Today I pay homage to the tree for all it's done for me and the human race.

THE TREE

Its eternal patience, its suffering caused by man and sometimes nature, its witness to thousands of years of earth's history, its creations of fabulous beauty. It does nothing but good, with its prodigious ability to serve, it gives off its bounty of oxygen while absorbing gases harmful to other living things. The tree and its pith live on. Its fruits feed us. Its branches shade and protect us. And, finally, when time and weather bring it down, its body offers timber for our houses and boards for our furniture. The tree lives on.

One can gain knowledge from words, but wisdom only from things. In the living tree, the wood has died. Once it lived, and made the new ring of growth. Then the living parts of the cell died, leaving the cell walls as wood. When the whole tree dies, its' natural fate is to rot, disintegrate, eventually to go back into the soil from which it came.

Many years ago the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright said, " Wood is a friend of mine. The best friend on earth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the great resources of the earth. It is a beautiful material, friendly to man, the supreme material for his dwelling purposes. If a man is going to live, he should live with wood."

The use of wood to create everything from simple habitat to finely crafted woodwork traces its origins almost to the dawn of humankind.

In spite of it's rich history, we continue to discover new ways to use it and new forms to create from it. It's artistic capabilities as well as it's adaptability for our living needs are unlimited. I agree fully with Frank Lloyd Wright, " Wood is a friend of mine."

The heft and feel of a well-worn handle,
The sight of shavings that curl from a blade;
The logs in the woodpile, the sentiment of huge beams in an old- fashioned house;
The smell of fresh cut timber and the pungent
fragrance of burning leaves;
The crackle of kindling and the hiss of burning logs.
Abundant to all the needs of man, how poor the world would be
without wood.
Everard Hinrichs 1865

The century of magnificent awareness preceding the Civil War was the age of wood. Wood was not accepted simply as the material for building a new nation- it was an inspiration. Gentle to the touch, exquisite to contemplate, tractable in creative hands, stronger by weight than iron, wood was, as William Penn had said, " a substance with a soul." It spanned rivers for man; it built his home and heated it in the winter; man walked on wood, slept in it, sat on wooden chairs at wooden tables, drank and ate the fruits of trees from wooden cups and dishes. From cradle of wood to coffin of wood, the life of man was encircled by it.

THE TREE RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember only five more business days left to sign up to win this chair at Mingo Gallery.....so get on down there, drawing to be selected Saturday, April 2nd !!! Not many names in the hat chances are excellent!:)

Thank you all for following my posts it means alot to me. Talk to you next week, have a great week to come.
Peace,
Scott