Trees

Writing a paper on the trees in The Odyssey had me looking at cedars, poplars, palms, alders, firs, figs and olives. Right now the trees in New York City are a soggy mess, as they were when I was in Vancouver earlier this Spring. Despite the rain, I got to the famed Museum of Anthropology and then back into the city to the Vancouver Gallery of Art.

Current exhibits meant that the Emily Carrs had been displaced, which was disappointing since I am not quite sure what else would take me back to Vancouver. Her images of trees are a part of the aesthetic ethos of the place that is so keenly aware of its wilderness that the museum had an exhibit specifically focusing on the city rather than the environs, which is something like going to New York City and seeing a show on the wildlife rather than the architecture.

One of these days, I would actually like to see these painting rather than images of them since their fluidity is undoubtedly even more striking in person. I am told Emily Carr, herself, is exceedingly warm and welcoming which means that if I can think of a good project she is precisely the type of person I would love to interview. So many things to do.

I have a tree house here in New York that is one of my favorite places to go. I don't use my phone there and only sometimes check my email. It is dark since there is only one window but exceedingly cozy. As a little girl, I always wanted a Swiss Family Robinson tree palace, and when I was older was satisfied to live in the forest, walking barefoot, and climbing into the branches to read the afternoon away. Eventually, I decided that I really had to return to civilization and I largely have though I still like to escape, sneaking away in silence to my make shift tree house.

The reason I like Carr's trees is mostly because they move in my mind, reminders of the soaring conversations I have had wandering among trees that I got to know over my time living with them. I get bored with the forests of people in the social world of the city and just looking at the Carrs carries me away.