Sycamore Notes

This tree has fascinated me for years.  I pass it everytime I walk to the little strip mall about a quarter of a mile from my house.    There is a good pizza place, a Dollar General, a weed dispensary, and a liquor store. When the weather is good I enjoy walking there for sundries and consumables.  The walk is leafy and pleasant so I’ve had plenty of opportunity to become well-acquainted with this tree and other sycamores that line the street. 

 They are fast growing, and reach immense proportions in just a few years, becoming more and more irregular as they age.  They show their years in twists and knots and unexpected, convoluted folds– much like ourselves.

Sycamores respond to the wear and tear of weather and stressed conditions with gross departures from classic tree symmetry and form. Deep rolls develop in their trunks and lopsided curvatures.  Their limbs become gnarly and develop odd knobs as they stretch out at unbalanced angles.  Yet the more ungainly their growth, the more beautiful they are to our eye. 

It makes me wonder why we do not regard our own aging selves in the same way. 

 I thought it would be interesting, perhaps revealing, to record this particular tree’s ways in nature over the course of several seasons. In my experience close attention opens up  wonders to the curious. And the wonders of this particular tree will likely go unremarked by anyone else in the world.