Kiss The Sky

This is the London Plane tree in my back yard, which stands about forty feet higher than the houses and gives a lot of wonderful shade. You can see the remnants of the heavy vines that I cut from the trunk about a year ago, and just the other day I trimmed some of its limbs that were touching the roof itself.

This mighty being is so healthy, so tall, with its base straddling two properties but not too close to any buildings. Its lowest limbs are far above any wires, and the houses block most of the wind that passes by. So aside from being very beautiful and cooling, this old tree gives no accidental trouble to human civilization and has no natural predators --now that the vines have been nixed.

It occurs to me that of all the trees I know, this one has seen so much of me that it might know me by now, hopefully with favor.

Here's another grand example of the species that grows less than a mile away.