We have a lovely male mulberry tree in our front yard. It's not the female kind that deposits staining berries all over once a year. This tree just bursts out in lovely leafiness without the berry problem. It does however collect some very annoying birds that decorate cars below with organic fertilizer of sorts, yuck! 
Our grand tree has hosted many adventures in the 31 years we have lived in our house. It has been climbed and played in, hiding the occupants from passers-by, a venue for top-secret meetings.
There have been a few alterations unfortunately. One particular branch was the best for help in hoisting bodies up into the tree and then for swinging out upon as kids left the leafy apartment house. The branch became un-leafy, a sure sign that it was dying and had to be cut off. Perhaps, the branch had been climbed to death, so to speak.
The tree always showers our yard with leaves in the Fall becoming bare but still climbable or sit-able, as the case may be. 
I remember a favorite branch on an apple tree when I was young enough to climb and hang from my knees over the branch. The tree changed and had to be pruned. For several years I forgot about the favorite spot and when I looked for it at a later time, the tree never looked the same. I had gotten taller or it had been ravaged by time. Who knows what happens to those kinds of childhood memories?
Kids have eaten lunch, snacks, popsicles and have taken an array of toys to perch with them precariously on the various forks and branch systems. Some hearty climbers have clumbed the rarified air of upper reaches, fortunately without mishap or broken arms.
The rule is that kids can be up the tree without adult arms to keep the falling at zero, but once they can climb up, even with the aid of a ladder, they can come and go as they please as is the case of these 2 who were getting good at it a couple of weeks ago. There was only one unbloody scrape reported.
It has started becoming a traditional occasion to take pictures of grandkids up in the tree, one of the few precious thrills we have in Holbrook.
1 comment:
I took a nap in that tree once, or twice. Many-a-days were spent there "hanging" out. And in my old age, I doubt I'd be able to climb it with the same ease I once did.
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