Treehouse

This is not my image, but one from a book I once did the research for, when I worked in publishing. The image is credited to Nate Madsen, which is odd, because it's not a selfie.

The story concerns a Californian protestor called Nate Madsen who once lived in a giant redwood as a protest against their being felled. He'd built himself a tree house, and never once came down for something like two years. He did have a ground team, to help him. I later found out that, when he'd ended his protest, the tree was felled.
Need I say more?

The book was called 'Treehouses' and was compiled by architect David Pearson, or his ghostly researcher. There are some other protest stories in there too, and another treehouse once inhabited by the notorious Seattle bank robber and meth dealer, Paul 'Scotty' Scurlock.

And why today?

Because the children and I went to the woods after school, and played on tyre swings and in a treehouse with two platforms. We also crushed several pink cans that had been left lying there. We found a sharp object, and had to talk about syringes. Mostly it was enormously entertaining to be scrambling and climbing, and the children were shouting "I'm ALIVE!" The evenings are definitely getting longer.

On the way home, we chose some bouquets from the discount flower stall, where everything costs a pound.The children chose tulips for their father, and I bought a ridiculous collection of red roses and lillies that had a fifteen pound price tag on it. Then father came home, and he'd bought pink flowers too!

The flowers are ex-supermarket, no longer perfect, but usually last a week or more. The money goes to Stroud hospital. These days, our house smells, and looks, like a florist's shop.