{"id":127,"date":"2013-11-14T04:03:37","date_gmt":"2013-11-14T04:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/?p=127"},"modified":"2013-11-14T04:03:37","modified_gmt":"2013-11-14T04:03:37","slug":"the-cleveland-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/?p=127","title":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cI think that I shall never see \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A poem as lovely as a tree \u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/strong> <\/em>Joyce Kilmer<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Cleveland<\/a>

The Cleveland Tree in Summer<\/p><\/div>\n

I liked the Cleveland Tree long before it was possible to \u201clike\u201d this tree on Facebook.\u00a0 One runner who shares the walking\/biking trail along Mississippi River Boulevard at the southern edge of the Highland Park area of Saint Paul is clearly even fonder of this particular tree than I am.\u00a0 He\u2019s the enterprising individual who created the Facebook page \u2013 and a Twitter account \u2013 for this particular tree.\u00a0 Initially, he announced these developments with a banner tied around the tree.\u00a0 Now, there\u2019s (usually) a little sign at the base of tree \u2026 and business cards at various places in the area.<\/p>\n

The Cleveland Tree is a particularly twisted oak tree that stands by itself beside the walking path near the point where Cleveland Avenue ends at Mississippi River Boulevard.\u00a0 If you want to visit, just take Cleveland south through Saint Paul to the all-way stop at Mississippi. The tree will be to your left.\u00a0 It\u2019s easily recognizable by its short stature, fully twisted trunk, and extremely gnarly branches.<\/p>\n

My daughter likes the Cleveland Tree (in life, if not on Facebook).\u00a0 She sees a tree that invites climbing with easy to reach branches and good spots to plant her feet on the trunk. My son does not like the Cleveland Tree \u2013 not in the usual sense or even the Facebook sense.\u00a0 To him it is not a proper tree; it\u2019s too short and stumpy.\u00a0 A tree worthy of being liked is a tall, towering one \u2026 a monarch of the forest … which the Cleveland Tree will never be.\u00a0 (Although if it were possible to straighten the twists of its trunk, the Cleveland Tree would be considerably taller.)<\/p>\n

But that twisted stumpy stature and those extremely gnarly branches are precisely why I\u2019ve always liked the Cleveland Tree even before there was a way to like it on Facebook. As someone who knows me pretty well once put it, there isn\u2019t an underdog out there that I\u2019m not for.\u00a0 As trees go, the Cleveland Tree is definitely an underdog, not an overlord, among the trees in the area.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0031\"<\/a>

The Cleveland Tree in Spring<\/p><\/div>\n

Many days I\u2019ve walked along that section of the path, noticing the trees and wondering how it was that the Cleveland Tree came to be as it is.\u00a0 Most of the oaks in that area do have similarly gnarled and kinked branches, if not quite so pronounced as those of the Cleveland Tree.\u00a0 But none have that extremely twisted trunk with an almost 360\u2070 twist before it splits into the two main limbs.\u00a0 What makes the Cleveland Tree so different?<\/p>\n

Botany was not an area of biology that interested me.\u00a0 (I preferred the animal kingdom and the intricacies of anatomy.)\u00a0 It\u2019s possible that the type of oak trees in this particular area produce these gnarled branches because that\u2019s just how they grow and develop.\u00a0 If it\u2019s all in the genes, then perhaps the Cleveland Tree received a stronger set of genes that make for such twisted growth. That might be all there is to it; however, I suspect that may, at best, be just a part of the Cleveland Tree\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

I wonder about the wind.\u00a0 Trees do need wind for their growth and development; it\u2019s essential.\u00a0 Scientists discovered this with the Biosphere down by Tucson, Arizona.\u00a0 After a rough start, the project was eventually taken over by scientists who saw plenty of opportunities for study in the small, fully contained miniature of the earth\u2019s ecosystems.\u00a0 However, after several years had passed, the trees inside the Biosphere started to fall over and no one could figure out why.\u00a0 The soil had adequate nutrients.\u00a0 There was sufficient water and light.\u00a0 There were no indications of any kind of blight or fungus or pest.\u00a0 For some time, the scientists examined everything in the Biosphere looking for the cause of this unprecedented event.\u00a0 No one had seen or heard of anything quite like this happening before.\u00a0 What were they missing?<\/p>\n

The answer likely hit one of those scientists with a face-full of desert dirt as he or she walked across the parking lot after work \u2013 wind!\u00a0 The Biosphere had everything earth has, including air circulation.\u00a0 But it did not have actual wind \u2026 strong, hard-blowing winds that shake the tree tops and push against the trees.\u00a0 As it turns out, trees need the wind blowing against them in order to develop strong trunks to support the limbs and branches and leaves. \u00a0Without the wind, the trunks don\u2019t become strong enough to hold everything up.<\/p>\n

So I wonder about the wind in times past as I walk through these trees on the bluffs of the Mississippi River.\u00a0 While none are twisted like the Cleveland Tree, many of trees with trunks of similar girth to the Cleveland Tree\u2019s are leaning considerably.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible they grew at such angles in order to find space amidst the canopy for their own branches and leaves to reach some sunlight.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also possible that way back in time, when these trees were much younger (and still developing their trunks) that some fierce wind tore through this area, blowing long enough and hard enough to forever shape these trees \u2026 bending a number of them \u2026 twisting the Cleveland Tree \u2026 and maybe even setting the then-young branches on their own twisted, kinked, and gnarled paths.\u00a0 Such fierce winds have certainly tore through the area with storms earlier this year.\u00a0 Tall, strong trees were ripped up by the roots in part by the force of the wind and in part because the soil was so saturated.\u00a0 It\u2019s not hard to imagine a similar event all those years ago forever twisting a young tree, shaping it into the unique form of the Cleveland Tree today.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Cleveland Tree in Autumn<\/p><\/div>\n

Life has a way of doing that \u2026 shaping us, testing us, bending us \u2026 sometimes marking us forever.\u00a0 Whatever whims of nature, whether by random genetics or wild winds or some of each and something more, the Cleveland Tree will always have that very twisted, stunted, unique shape.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t stop this particular oak tree from doing what all trees do.\u00a0 Each spring, it puts forth tender green leaves and indiscernible flowers.\u00a0 The leaves take in the sunlight and the carbon dioxide, producing the starchy food that feeds the tree and nourishes the growing acorns.\u00a0 Those leaves breathe out oxygen and provide a cool, shady refuge for birds and squirrels and passers-by.\u00a0 As fall approaches, the tree drops its acorns \u2026 food for the scampering squirrels and occasional chipmunk.\u00a0 In times past, humans were nourished by acorns as well.\u00a0 In some places, we still are.\u00a0 With the fall, the leaves turn brown and eventually drop to the ground \u2026 perhaps becoming part of an animal\u2019s winter shelter \u2026 or perhaps returning nutrients to the soil for the next year\u2019s growth.\u00a0 Then the tree stands dormant and silent through winter\u2019s passing until spring comes again.\u00a0 Year after year, the Cleveland Tree (like any other tree) does this regardless of whatever whims of life and forces of nature have shaped it into the way it is today.<\/p>\n

For that, this particular tree, the Cleveland Tree, is an inspiration to me.\u00a0 It reminds me the value of simply keeping on \u2026 keeping about the business of life \u2026 whatever work is given me to do \u2026 whatever season it happens to be\u00a0 \u2026 through whatever happens.\u00a0 Life shapes all of us a little differently.\u00a0 Some of it we do to ourselves by the choices we make and the paths we follow.\u00a0 But just as trees don\u2019t have choices, some of what happens we have no say in, no control over.\u00a0 It just happens and all we can do is make the best of it or give up and stop trying.\u00a0 Like the Cleveland Tree, we can be forever shaped \u2026 scared, stunted, bent, even twisted around by things that happen.\u00a0 But the tree reminds me it is possible to keep going, to keep growing, to keep living.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Cleveland Tree in Winter<\/p><\/div>\n

No, the Cleveland Tree will never be a proud monarch of the forest.\u00a0 It will forever be short and stumpy.\u00a0 But because of its unique shape, it brings joy and support to at least a few runners out there.\u00a0 (How many trees can you actually give a high-five to?)\u00a0 Although it\u2019s not one of my dog\u2019s favorite message exchange locations (just as it\u2019s not my son\u2019s favorite tree), no doubt plenty of dogs find it a good place to exchange messages and catch a cool draft on summer days.\u00a0 Certainly trees were removed when the path and fencing were put in along Mississippi River Boulevard.\u00a0 Could its unique shape be the reason why the Cleveland Tree was one of the trees to be spared and allowed to continue living and growing?\u00a0 That weird shape may well be the very reason the tree is still here.<\/p>\n

The Cleveland Tree is still here, doing all the normal tree things \u2026 but also providing inspiration to runners and walkers and wonderers like me. \u00a0Perhaps our own unique features and characters, the shape life has given us and the shape we have given to our lives provides similar joy, encouragement, and even inspiration to people around us \u2026 maybe even some we don\u2019t actually know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cI think that I shall never see \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A poem as lovely as a tree \u2026\u201d\u00a0 Joyce Kilmer I liked the Cleveland Tree long before it was possible to \u201clike\u201d this tree on Facebook.\u00a0 One runner who shares the walking\/biking trail along Mississippi River Boulevard at the southern edge of the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions\/135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}