This first picture is for Splinkster. Those are Linden tree leaves. I went through a serious leaf sketching period this fall and still had a table full of leaves and managed to find these amongst the pile. The smell is absolutely intoxicating and I could not think of another tree that had the same kind of sense trigger. I thought if you saw the leaves they might ring a bell with you. If not I will try again. I will also get a picture of an arbutus tree but that will probably have to wait until later in the week.
Splinkster spent some time on the island and had a question about a tree with a waxy fruit tasting berry and he thought the tree kept its leaves all winter and the bark peeled off. The peeling bark made me think of the arbutus tree. The waxy berries made me think of the holly tree but I don't think that can be right. I thought maybe some of you islanders might have an idea. I'm looking at you Kelly and you too Small Town Teacher! Maybe even some of you Vancouverites would have an idea. Deb, 668, Mellowlee, any ideas?
This picture of the totem pole in front of the legislature has kind of an interesting story. It's very hard to see from the picture but the very top part has a new paint job. Problem is you are not really supposed to repaint totem poles. Kind of does not fit in with the whole carving of the tree and then allowing it to live and then die a natural death. A totem pole is meant to be something that will once again become a part of the earth. Not only that, they were having city workers do the work. The artist of the totem pole is still alive and was needless to say was rather shocked and horrified by what they were doing to his creation. Work was then quickly halted and followed by profuse apologies.
I don't know why but the story of the totem pole always reminds me of this little story from Vancouver. Every so often the city will go around and do a large object clean-up. Residents are encouraged to put their old scraps out front. On one of these trips around town the city workers saw a heap of scrap metal and hauled it off and threw it out with the trash. Turned out the scrap metal was a $250,000 sculpture!!
17 comments:
I never knew what those leaves were called, interesting. Now I have quotable knowledge :)
We had a totem pole incident here before I moved here. The school's totem pole fell down in a big wind storm. It had only been up for like 2 years. Anyway, the principal (she's white but married to a local) had it erected again. Needless to say, some people are still very upset about that ... including the students (whom I heard the story from).
Oaks' keep their leaves all winter, but no berry's or bark peeling, it doesn't ring a bell, we have 2 arborists at work I'll ask.
we have/had a lot of Ash here, it is all dead now,we spend a hell of a lot of time cutting down dead Ash.
I didn't know that about totem poles, but of course it makes perfect sense.
That's a great story about the city worker. Obviously they were not art lovers.
Allison, when you get to Vancouver you can look down see those weird looking butterfly pods and go, "Hey, those are from a Linden tree!" No doubt this will be met with utter boredom from anyone within earshot!!
Small town teacher, I can see where that would not go over big. Probably more than anything she should have left it up to the band council. Politics of culture can be very tricky.
Junky, thanks that would be great. Were the Ash trees hit by disease? I remember when Dutch Elm disease spread through Saskatchewan and devastated a lot of old tree lined streets.
Barbara, my dad loves that story because he calls most of our abstract sculptures art work for birds!
i was thinking arbutus by the leaves and bark..but berries..not on arbutus. Mountian ash keeps its berries but its bark doesn't peel.
actually arbutus do have a bright orange/red fruit...i googled
Kelly, I bet that's it. I never knew arbutus had a bright/red fruit. I guess I've really only noted its unique bark. Thanks for googling!
oh cool, thats what those things are. I like when they fall off the trees, they twirl like little helicopters!
I didnt know that about totem poles, thats so interesting. The metal sculpture story made me laugh!!!
Mellowlee, I always think of them as butterfly pods. I love how in the fall they turn such pretty colours and if you look close you can see pinks and greens and purples within the golds.
Look like the little helicopter seeds I have on a tree here. Love the poles. I've seen a few in CA when I was younger. Interesting.
Busterp, in the summer there's a native lodge where you can actually watch someone carve a totem pole. It's pretty cool to watch the work in progress.
off topic...so you liked the salmon with blackberries...good...was it for a hot date?
Here in Chicago we've had a Totem Pole, in Lincoln
Park, near Addison. It turned out that the original
was a sacred object (um, hence the word "totem"-- duh!) and the tribe it had been taken from asked for it back. Chicagoans wanted to do the right thing and return it, but we were sure going to miss it- it's visible from Lake Shore Drive, our second most famous road (the old Route 66 also started here).
Fortunately, Kraft Foods paid to have another one made, and the orginal was shipped to it's rightful owners and replaced with the new one, which is good, because it's one of my son's favorite things here in his hometown. And mine.
Kelly, yes! :)
Johnny Yen, I like the fact that Chicagoans wanted to and did the right thing by returning the totem pole. Kudos to Kraft as well. There's a Canadian artist, Emily Carr that painted totem poles of the Haida in northern isolated communities.
Yup those look like maple tree helicopters... seeds that know how to drop to the ground with style.
Barbara, they certainly are cool pods. I'm going to have to keep my eyes open this fall and watch for the helicopter effect.
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