Through The Trees

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‘Through The Trees’                                                  Hanmer Springs, NZ.  July 2013

                                                                                                                                                  

                                            wooden shafts

                                                       shafts of light and air

                                                                  run parallel

                                                                             then merge

                                                                                         in memories

 

Branches

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‘Branches’

Branches.

They have spread and influence.

This picture is only of branches.

No trunk or visible roots.

A friend and former legal colleague of mine was announced as a judge recently and will take her place on the bench (in court, that is) soon.

It’s a position with spread and influence for sure, imbued with all the decision making powers that can right wrongs and change lives.

But it can be lonely at the top of the legal tree.

Lonely anywhere at the top, really.

I suppose that any time we get to rarified, or even isolated, places, it is crucial to remember your trunk and your roots.

The sort of life experiences and foundations that took you to where you are now.

In the soon-to-be judge’s case that will include all the clients she battled hard for in difficult situations, who will be looking back at her in the faces of those she must now make decisions for and about.

You will hopefully have your own trunk and roots system to sustain you and call upon, as you spread out and upwards, or merely when you find yourself alone.

Touch wood…

 

 

 

 

In Dingle Dell

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Yeah, I know it rhymes with jingle bells and sounds sorta made up, like something from ‘The Hobbit’, but Dingle Dell is an actual place.

What it is, is a bushland oasis, a sanctuary if you will, right in the midst of suburban  Auckland ,and only five minutes from my home.

Decades ago a group of forward minded individuals planted out the difficult terrain in native tree species. Matured now, it is the thriving habitat of numerous endemic species.

I was there yesterday, on the last day of school holidays, with my daughter.

She couldn’t recall the place. Surely I had taken her  there…hadn’t  I ? Well, not for years , if so. Remiss of me. I mean, I could remember being taken there by my parents but….

Together we stood quietly as tui and fantails fed and preened in the bush canopy. No one else around. Special.

My learnings from the time amongst the trees, navigating the shaded, serpentine tracks were:

 That we often take for granted what is very familiar to us; we need to spend a  little more time in the quiet wonder of  nature – it is humbling actually – and , god, time really does fly – the child becomes the parent and is the guide, not the guided, in a flash.

Oh, and magic is everywhere, not just in fantasy fiction…

 

 

 

Magnolia Dream

20200114_201852.jpg‘Magnolia Dream’

                                                                    ………………….

The soft, creamy hues of the magnolia flower with its opulent scent – summer signifiers.

So grateful to have a large tree in our backyard, and I took and made this picture last night after some evening rain had fallen.

The distinctive aroma of the flower was magnified by the warm, moist air.

When the tree was planted by us 20 years ago, this image was the dream in my mind…