A Tree of Life

"A Tree of Life"  By Mary Maki Rae 2012 (c)

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Sometimes in the Heart of Cool Winter I look at the bare branches and can't help longing for Spring.  While moving some paintings around - I came across this one shown above.

Here are also some found words that I admire about Trees:

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"How we long to achieve the growth the tree fosters in itself - the reach and rootage  - the sturdiness and balance between high and low - the way it meets each season - holding its ground - spare or blooming.

Every sort of creature nestles in the tree's sheltering - motherly branches - hides in it's hollows and is fed by her substance."

"In myths humans are sometimes transformed into trees - and the sighing of the tree and it's resinous tears are both tree-like and human - and speak of endurance - entanglement - and also fixation.

As we have a soul - so it seems there is an animating spirit in a tree that we may have imagined as a snake - a bird - or a genie in a bottle buried at the roots."

"The tree shows us how - from a tiny bare seed of potential the self can come into existence - centered and contained - around which occur incessant processes of multiplying - perishing and self renewal."

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Text from: THE TREE: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live & Why They Matter -- By Colin Tudge  N.Y. 2006

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