TALL WHITE PINE

WISCONSIN INDIAN SUMMER - 

LOOKING FOR A TREE

I'm delighted to say I fulfilled an important goal on my bucket list this past October weekend...  I have never watched the movie that made this phrase so popular but I've heard enough about it to know what a bucket list is.   

Almost a year ago I was taking a walk down a dead end road near my home when I spotted a huge white pine tree through the fog, across a huge marsh.  Of course it was there long before me, but I hadn't bothered to notice it before.  Since my cancer dx, I notice so much more in nature and I hope I can help you open up your eyes too.  Please try not to take little things for granted.  I didn't forget that pine tree and I yearned to get up close to it.  It’s beauty and awe inspired me to write this poem.

TALL WHITE PINE 

Through the misty fog I see,

A towering, ancient, white pine tree.

Across the marsh it juts out high,

Above the tree line in the sky.

When I see an old pine tree

I feel just like its calling me,

To come and sit and meditate

And rest beneath, appreciate.

Once these trees were everywhere.

Now they’re only here and there.

Beneath this tree I yearn to sit.

I’ll find a way to get to it.  

Just a couple days ago my husband agreed to help me find that white pine tree and the bonus was we were having a good old Wisconsin late October Indian summer.  We drove part way, parked the car, and walked north on a trail through our neighbor's woods.  When nearing the end of the trail, a mowed field revealed a fresh leg bone from a deer, left behind by a pack of wolves not long ago.  

We trudged along on a back eighty acre clearing through deep and wide puddles filled with plenty of recent rain water.  A bald eagle chattered nearby as he quickly rose into the sky and several crows cawed all around us.  That made us wonder if perhaps a fresh wolf-killed deer carcass might be lying in the thick woods north of the trail.  I stood behind while Tom ventured off through thick tag alders looking for something dead.  I waited, and waited, and waited.  Finally he reappeared just down the trail from me with no stories to tell.

We continued on our jaunt towards the area of woods that we knew the giant pine tree must be hiding in.  As large as the tree looked from the road, the dense woods concealed it very well.  When our water hole trail ended, we spotted one white pine tree just northeast of us, but it didn't look majestic enough to be the tree I was seeking. 

Again my husband ventured off toward the east through the thick marshy brush to look for another white pine, a larger tree that might be lurking just a little further on.  Once again I stayed behind, resting, and waiting, and waiting.  I leaned against a couple of oak trees as the ground was too wet to sit down.  After several minutes I became anxious, worried that my hubby might be lost.  He carried the cell phone and I had nothing, no water, no snacks, no watch, and no gun.  What would I do if a timber wolf appeared?  We had heard wolves howling in this very direction just a few nights before from our home.  

Finally Tom reappeared in the distance and told me, with utmost confidence, that the white pine we had spotted just north of us was thee one...  I gave him a high-five and after a short jaunt we were there at the base of this majestic tree.  It was a double leader as two branches rose to the top, not just one.  We noticed an old deer stand in the tree, a rope hanging down from it, and several rusty spikes jutting out of it.  Good thing for the deer hunters, as the metal in the tree may have saved it from recent logging nearby. 

So here I was… standing at the base of it, giving it a huge hug.  We joined hands together, Tom and I, and completely encompassed the tree.  I pulled from my pocket the cloth measuring tape I had snatched from my sewing box and measured the circumference about three feet up from the base.  It measured exactly 9', not a record breaker, but a dandy!

The walk out was exhausting for me, but I was elated to have met this great white pine tree (a double leader and a double hugger) up close and personal.  I’m so thankful I had the chance to fulfill the wish I made in my poem almost a year ago.  It doesn't take a lot to make me happy!  

Could never have made it without my knee boots!