DAY 309
02.07.08
TREE 149
I worked and came home. I got on the computer and listened to my podcasts. Before I knew it hours had gone by and it was near dinner time. My dad and I were waiting for my mom to get home from bell practice so we could go out to eat. She finally got home and we went to Cracker Barrel. Not my favorite place but I got food. The whole time I was thinking of two things: I need to climb a tree, and of my 90 day review at work. I think it was the review that made me want to phase out after I got home. That is why I got online so long and zoned out. I told my parents at dinner how my boss wanted to cut my pay by a dollar an hour. And how he insinuated that I was a slow learner. I got 4, 4.5, and 5 out of 5’s on most categories, but not on "accumulation of knowledge." But I am not getting trained! I didn’t get a pay cut but now I am expected to clean and organize the shop more. I feel undervalued, like a burden, and it isn’t my responsibility alone to make sure I get trained. And how do I know if I am getting adequately trained? I don’t. So I was a little preoccupied which is why I didn’t climb till 8:30 at night.
We got back from the restaurant and I got ready to go out and climb. Thankfully it’s the sycamore off 393 that is in short walking distance from the house. I crossed the road and stepped carefully down the muddy, hay covered slope. Touching the cold bark of the tree, I looked for my way in. A sturdy vine immediately jogged my memory from the last climb and got me started. I pulled myself onto the first limb and steadied myself with the help of the same vine. That vine was useful for the next three steps. After that it thinned and branched rendering it weak and useless to me. But the branches of thesycamore increased in frequency so I had no need of it. I quickly worked my way up glad the stringy vine finally ended before I got to the top.
Once there I did the usual things.
It was so dark
and only the street lamps of the new neighborhood (still without houses) lit the area.
I got creative with the occasional passing car headlights.
I took my time and waited for just the right moment to snap the shots, doing my best to keep the camera still to prevent blur.
I think I got some great shots. I was excited. Then I put my camera away and just listened to the water trickle in the nearby invisible streams. It was so peaceful and lovely. I felt truly alone in my state of observation away from anything else. I love that feeling. The complete lack of worry that I’ll be seen or hassled. I felt so good, so comfortable, so content with my place in the tree at this time. I kissed the tree. I had never done that before, but I threw any thoughts of weirdness out and just did it. Immediately it made me think, this is the most action I’ve gotten lately, which amused me. Really I haven’t felt the need. With climbing everyday and the enjoyment I receive from it, maybe I don’t need it. I’m learning what I need for me that I can do for myself. And if that means kissing trees, so be it. Well not really, it wasn’t good enough to be habit forming. The tree didn’t even kiss back.
2-9-09: Ummmm… this is probably the weirdest entry to date. At least the ending. I can’t believe I wrote that. Well… I can’t believe I decided to stay true to the entry and share it with everyone on here. But I did. There you go. I haven’t kissed another tree since. I show my appreciation in other ways. Like with good thoughts. I’m going to leave that at that.
I would like to say, however, that the 90 day review completely sucked. I was so insulted. My boss could have handled that better. At least try to manage your employees so that they get adequately trained. I can’t believe I didn’t quit then and there.
And lastly, the climb from that night in the above entry and the amazing shots I got completely erased that bad mood I had all day from the review. I am so grateful for this project sometimes. Most times, all the time really.
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Last Friday, February 6th, was my first full day in Boston. Or Newton to be exact. This is the neighborhood where Stefan, Laura, and Robin live. Stefan left early to go to his job as English and Latin teacher at a private Catholic school, St. Sebastian. I hung out with Laura and Robin for the day. At one point Laura took me to a nearby Stop & Shop parking lot and dropped me off. Next to the lot was a park that runs along a creek. I walked through the very deep snow to the foot path and scanned for a good tree. Just beyond the snow covered wooden bridge I saw a massive sycamore.
It was very tall and had a great many limbs. But they all started too high for me to reach.
I examined a little closer and found a small tree growing just a few feet away where the top came close to one of the sycamore branches.
It looked small but I had to try. I climbed up the small tree and was happy to find it bent only slightly under my weight. I reached for the sycamore limb and was able, with some figuring, to transfer and right myself to my feet in the sycamore. From there I climbed with ease to the top. Well, not completely since the bark was so cold to the touch my hands ached. When I was near the top and knew I needed to get my camera soon I checked my coat pocket. It was empty! I looked frantically to the snow covered ground below but was too high to see the camera. I wondered when it had fallen from my pocket which I stupidly forgot to zip up. I could only hope that it fell out on the first branch so it didn’t have that far of a fall nor any branches to hit on the way down. Luckily I always have my cell phone camera to use as a back up.
When I was at my high point and ready to shoot pictures with my phone a white Crown Victoria with a color strip on the side drove to the corner of the Stop & Shop parking lot and faced right in my direction. I thought it was cop and got that horrible feeling of getting caught. I started to shoot pictures hoping to get as many as I could before getting told to get down.
But no one got out of the car. I looked closer and I saw no lights on the top. It wasn’t a cop at all. It was just a tired cabi who parked at the back to get some peace and quiet. It was just coincidence that he was facing in my direction. I relaxed and finished taking my pictures.
Then I started to climb down pausing every few branches to look to the ground for my camera. Almost to the bottom I finally spotted the hole in the snow where the camera was burrowed. I couldn’t tell from there but it looked as if it were in one piece. I was worried that it would be wet and broken and I would have to get a new camera for my NY trip. But I had a transfer back to the small tree to figure out.
It seems more difficult to transfer back to small trees than the reverse. But I had to because even with the thick snow, I felt it would have been too far of a drop for me to do. What I have found though, is if I just do every move exactly in reverse the transfer should come off fine. That is what I did and thankfully it worked like a charm. I was in the small tree and took one more shot with my camera phone then back to the snow.
(if you look in the picture above you can see my camera right below the large trunk at the top of the image. It is sunken down in the snow.)
I picked up my camera and it looked fine but had a lot of snow on it. I did my best to blow and brush it off. Then the real test. I pressed the power button. It worked! I cleaned off the lens then took a few more pictures from the ground.
Oh happy day, my camera lives!
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