Gravity defied.

IMG_0067the Manchurian tree

Manchurian Pear

The above tree is not going to be with us much longer. At least not in its present shape. It was getting too large. During storms we watched the trunk twisting and turning alarmingly. With our previous farming life, and breeding alpacas, we were told to keep animals away from those type of trees. They, out of the blue, will drop large branches. Not deliberately, but as part of their nature. They split easily. But… they are also very beautiful trees giving us freely an amazing display of burnished gold during autumn. Unfortunately when they drop (unexpectedly) heavy branches, they fall down to earth and not up to heavenly skies. That is determined by the law of gravity.

I was told that this law doesn’t apply everywhere in our universe. There are many places in the more celestial areas where this law of gravity doesn’t exists. I have always been baffled that things fall down. As a child I remember seeing twirling seed pots taking a long time to reach the ground after leaving the safety of the parental tree.. Those seed pots attempted clearly to defy the law of gravity, and were very brave to do so.

In our condominium it was decided to cut some trees near the street that were pushing over a boundary fence. We were happy to go without a fence. It is a bit unfortunate, but fences seem very popular in Australia. Perhaps real estate when owned, has to be protected by a fence. Do people steal bits of real estate? Will we arrive home after watching a movie in the cinema, and find our kitchen has been stolen, or the front door?

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As you can see, our kitchen is still in place, at least at twenty minutes to eight in the morning. Anyway, we agreed to let those fence pushing trees to be cut down, and also asked to include for the arborist the lopping of our Manchurian pear to about the size it was when we moved in our own (fenced off) town-house. I watched the cutting of the trees with great interest. There is something about a man swinging high up, chainsaw dangling from his belt, cutting a large tree. Of course, here too the law of gravity reigns supreme and no branch moved skywards.

All trees were fed into a monstrous machine that chipped it into mulch. The mulch was subsequently blown into a large truck. The truck then deposited it on the side of one townhouse for the use of the residents needs to mulch their gardens. The last item to be lopped to size was our own Manchurian tree.  It too was fed into this machine.

It looks very sad now. Those trees are very fast growing. We are sure that next spring it will double in size again. That’s life. A renewal of everything. It will be great to watch it rear up and grow. Below, the ‘after’ picture of the tree.

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20 Responses to “Gravity defied.”

  1. Forestwood Says:

    Everything has a beginning and an end, doesn’t it, Gerard. Trees sometimes outlive us. I do agree about being mesmerized by tge cutting diwn if a large tree by ‘man with chainsaw’ – it is an ambivalent feeling of both fascination with the actions of the branch falling and sadness that the tree is no more.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Therese Trouserzoff Says:

    I think our neighbours would need an upgrade to rightfully claim the epithet of “bastards”. It’s not our kitchen, but they are not about to nip a few inches off our property on the long side. This equates to about 10 sq metres in total.

    So ? How about I tell you that where we live, a square metre of bare dirt costs $20,000 do fence lines are measured in microns using lasers.

    Robert Frost, in his poem Mending Wall had. Quite a lot to say on the topic. “Good fences make good neighbors.”May 25, 2010. And dirt was cheaper then.

    We, in the Inner West regard trees as sacred objects so when those mongrel Energy Australia vandals mangle our Blueberry Ash, we are always outraged, but the tree ignores the abuse and belts out new growth with gay abandon.

    May your mandarin pear do likewise.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. shoreacres Says:

    With hurricane season having arrived, prudent sorts here have completed the trimming of their trees. Careful, interior pruning can
    reduce damage to the trees when the winds pick up — just as a nice prune can encourage fresh growth. That’s a beautiful tree, and one that I haven’t heard of. Autumn colors like that are to be cherished. I can see why you’ve enjoyed the tree, and I’m sure you’ll have nice, fresh growth to admire again.

    Speaking of gardening and such, I watched a program tonight about the HighLine in New York. It was a Dutchman who devised the landscaping for it — I’m still traveling and haven’t figured out this iPad well enough to go searching for his name, but I thought it was interesting.

    Liked by 1 person

    • gerard oosterman Says:

      Yes Linda,
      Over the last few years two of the Manchurian trees lost large branches damaging the townhouses. We are a bit high-up, so storms are strong. I can manage a chain-saw but Helvi has put a ban on this kind of work.

      I also pruned a large Virginia creeper that grows against our garage wall. Apart from the lovely green it also keeps our place cool in the heat of summer.

      All in all,we are always happy to be home. The garden and books are essential. It overcomes all.

      Like

  4. doesitevenmatter3 Says:

    Yes, everything in nature has a life cycle. Sometimes trees die 😦 which makes me very sad. Trees have brought such inspiration, joy, and encouragement in my life. 🙂
    It’s nice when they just need a grooming and will live on. 🙂 We had to have a large tree groomed…trimmed back…a few years ago. It is doing well. And it is putting on it’s summer clothes. 🙂 (Bright green leaves.)

    Fences make me think of the quote: “Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.” There are fences near our house that I’m glad are there. If they weren’t I’d have some big bulls roaming in my backyard. 🙂 I like to stand on my side of the fence and watch the bulls, but I’m not sure I want them coming over to visit! 😮 They are large and in-charge! 😀

    HUGS!!! 🙂
    PS…How is Helvi doing?
    How is Milo doing?
    How is Horse?

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Andrew Says:

    I coppiced our hazels on a rotation basis and used the clippings as mulch. Very good indeed. The hazels grew very quickly. It was wonderful suddenly to have extra light on the ground. Well worth doing. I’m sure your pear tree will grow back strongly. Maybe with a partridge in it?

    Liked by 1 person

  6. kaytisweetlandrasmussen83 Says:

    Trees are lovely but they do take some care. Our friends came and cut back our 50 year old orange tree last week. It had not had a haircut like it forever. It looks wonderful and more like a tree should look. The fig by the back door is trying to come inside, so will need to be reprimanded soon.

    Liked by 1 person

    • gerard oosterman Says:

      Fig trees too grow very fast and the birds love figs. We put netting around the fig tree. The birds would just land on the netting and somehow still feast on figs.
      Professional fig growers even employ some type of cannon that goes off every few minute, scaring the birds. Even that, the birds get used to. It is not easy to be a farmer.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. petspeopleandlife Says:

    Seems a shame to cut the tree down but one does what one must do. Houses and vehicles must be protected so down with the trees. We do that here as well and in fact there are trees in my yard that need pruning because soon there are limbs that will scratch vehicles.

    The tree in your photo is quite pretty. Too bad it had to meet its demise. It is totally understandable though.

    Liked by 1 person

    • gerard oosterman Says:

      Yes, cutting trees or lopping them becomes necessary. We, in our farm days cut dozens of trees but always planted more than what we cut.

      Australia has traditionally always been fond of cutting trees. The bush-fires were the enemy. Older people don’t like anything to grow above gutter level because the leaves block the gutters.

      In winter many people are found on top of ladders cleaning gutters. It has become a tradition not unlike playing cricket during Christmas time.

      We don’t clean our gutters which is causing some animosity between our neighbours. But, what can you do?

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Big M Says:

    Only last fortnight I cut away the dead part of a flowering gum, leaving two baby trunks sprouting from the rootstock. They have doubled in size in that time. The dead trunk is so well seasoned that it has been heating the house.

    We also pruned a tree that was giving easy possum access to the roof, but the little buggers can climb just about anything.

    Liked by 1 person

    • gerard oosterman Says:

      Yes, the possums are good climbers. They have a habit of scurrying up a tree in split second and then their beady eyes will glare at me and Milo from high up.

      They are now in the midst of mating like mad which infuriates Milo no end. He was castrated when young but I suspect he knows he might be missing something and perhaps still gets the occasional twinge of desire. It is at times like that I give him a special little treat, just to be kind.

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  9. Curt Mekemson Says:

    On fences, I am reminded of Robert Frost’s poem where he states “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” Do we fence ourselves in or others out? Peggy likes fences. I think she sees them as defining her territory. Me, not so much.
    As for trees, wind storms often play havoc with our trees. Limbs come tumbling down, and occasionally trees. Natures way of pruning. Most of our property is natural, so I leave them to rot and nourish the soil. Ones along our road or around our house I clean up, me and my chainsaw. We keep limbs on the trees around our house cut up to around eight feet above the ground. This is for fire safety. I enjoyed your post, Gerard. Interesting and well-written. –Curt

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