The Three Graces

Three maple trees graced the front lawn of our childhood home. Like the three sisters who grew up there, each displayed a unique personality. The smallest tree, a sugar maple, was closest to the house and vibrantly colorful. My older sister Jane, a petite redhead,...

If a tree falls in a forest

If a tree falls in a forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Arriving at Vanaprastha in the evening last weekend, we saw a tree lying across the driveway turnaround. In our headlights, the yellow-tinted leaves looked like a maple’s, but in...

Phasmids and Oak Trees

In advance of winter, Vanaprastha teams with reproductive activity, from oak trees peppering the ground with acorns to unseen frogs calling availability in chorus from the treetops, a little Leisure-Suit Larry romancing the large female orb-weaver at our back door to...