The Colour of Trees

I live in what I believe to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. I’m sure many of you feel that way about your home territory. For me, a large part of that beauty is the trees.

This week’s writing prompt from Dr. Preeti Singh is “Flowering Trees”. I went through my photo file and found many, many colourful examples of local trees. I didn’t realize how many I had until I started to gather them all together. It was difficult to thin them down to a reasonable amount and I probably still put in too many.

Usually these pieces have more actual story to them than this one will. However, I am excited to share the pictures. So I’m going limit the number of words so as not to overwhelm the reader.

Just before I retired to the west coast of Canada where I was born, I was living in Alaska. It isn’t always winter there, it just seems like it when there has been snow on the ground for six months!

When summer does come, it is glorious. Twenty hours of sunlight and it never really gets dark on the longest days.

Here’s a flowering tree from my Alaskan back yard:

1 of 12 — Blooming lilac that has turned from a shrub to a tree. (Author’s photo.)

After retiring I rented a house in Victoria, Canada while my wife and I figured out where we would settle permanently. The house was across the street from Beacon Hill park, a 200 acre part within short walking distance of downtown.

We would walk the park most days. Following are various trees in their fall colours:

2 of 12 (Author’s photo)

3 of 12 — Young Japanese Maple tree. (Author’s photo)

4 of 12 — A sleeping Buddha among the trees. (Author’s photo)

5 0f 12 (Author’s photo)

In the spring time and early summer, there are various other coloured trees:

6 of 12 — Wisteria disguising itself as a tree. (Author’s photo)

7 of 12 — Author standing by Rhododendrons trying to become trees. (Author’s photo)

8 of 12 (Author’s photo)

9 of 12 — Another Rhododendron closer to becoming a full fledged tree. (Author’s photo)

And how can we ignore the natural beauty of a full green tree against a blue sky:

10 of 12 — Gary Oak tree. (Author’s photo)

Finally, what’s a green tree without an owl in it?

11 of 12 — Owl in a maple tree. (Author’s photo)

Being among trees is how I bring myself into balance after dealing with the day-to-day stresses of modern life. During the two years I lived in Victoria I spent a lot of time among the trees in Beacon Hill Park. It was because of this that we decided to settle in the country so that we could be among trees all the time.

We ended up on a small nearby island were we have our own little forest to care for. It’s not currently at its best because of this summer’s drought, but it does provide us with shade from the sun. And it will green up once the rains come.

Here’s the tree view out my front door:

12 of 12 — Front door view of Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir trees. (Author’s photo)

We’re never leaving!

Thank you for reading my article. If you found it interesting, here is one of my stories that really has me alone among the trees in the wilderness.

Surviving Alone in the Alaska Wilderness

I am frequently inspired by other writers on Medium. Dr. Preeti Singh encouraged us to write about the colourful trees in our lives and was the genesis of my story.

The Beautiful Cherry Blossoms Splashed Color In My Life

This piece by Valorie Lasley was also encouraging for me to keep writing, in spite of, at times, little readership.

‘Reciprocal Could Save My Writing Care

As I get older and endeavour to live a healthy lifestyle, reminders of just how capable us older folks can be is always helpful. I look around and see many people aging badly. This article by Katie Critelli shows me another, encouraging perspective.

Five people who will challenge your limiting beliefs about health and fitness

A recent favourite story (there are so many of them here on Medium) is this one from Maria Rattray that reminds us what can happen if we don’t treat nature with the respect it deserves and demands.

The Noise Was Unbearable, Every Darned Morning, He Complained

And finally, another excellent story from one of my favourite new authors, Janin Lyndovsky. Like me she lives in the country and brings a lovely perspective to that isolated but not lonely life.

Thank You All For Making Me Smile

I wish to thank the following people who recently chose to follow me and my writing. Your interest encourages me to continue writing. I hope you enjoy this new story.

Tita and Keg, R069, Shirley Laffa

Thank you for following me.

Finally, I would like to invite my recent commenters to share this story. If any of you would like to be excluded from my tags in future, please, please let me know!

Dr. Preeti Singh, Jenny Lane, Yana Bostongirl, Michele Maize (The Sober Vegan Yogi), Dr. Fatima Imam, Janin Lyndovsky, Martin von Mars, Occam's Press, Mukundarajan V N, Rebecca Romanelli, Wendi Gordon, Mia Verita, Joyce Corey, William J Spirdione, Josephine Crispin, Aunty Jean, Douglas Giles, PhD, Andy Taylor, Marianne Simon, JM Riordan, Joyce Nielsen, Pene Hodge, Charlie Brown, Kaia Maeve Tingley, Neera Handa Dr, Charlotte Kingsbury- Fink, Conni Walkup Hull, Casey Stanley,

I wish you well!

The Elder Taoist