BONE APPETIT BAKERY
The maple was also where I’ d go to be alone, eat my peanut butter sandwich, and look at my baseball cards. I leaned up against the trunk and carved my initials in a lower branch. I looked up to see the sun streak through branches that moved with the slightest breeze.
The maple was the last thing to look at as my family drove away, and the first thing I saw when we came home.
Our maple was a proud sentinel all through elementary school until we heard the fifth grade girls say it wasn’ t cool to climb trees. Walking past, I saw the abandoned boards from a tree hut and an old hammerhead in the weeds. Rotting boards overhead squeaked as branches moved. The beef cow’ s water trough was full of leaves.
Years later, and on my last trip to my town, I saw the maple had battled wind and storms. Major branches were splintered at broken angles. A rusted barbed wire fence was nailed to its wide trunk. No sign of the boards— and my initials were healed over, barely visible. Still out in the open, the pasture edge had grown close with multi-flora and autumn olive. No tall top reached for the sky. A big yellow bulldozer had been off-loaded and was parked nearby. Wire grade stakes stood ominous in a row, like an advancing flank of toy soldiers. Little orange flags flapped in the wind.
It made me think trees are expendable, even the maple. I wasn’ t there to watch over it. The maple was no longer in our care. No friends or daring climbs coaxed me up to its base.
Trees are here, then gone, or nearly so. Sometimes they’ re replaced, if we’ re lucky.
A tree that may in summer wear a nest of robins in her hair. Upon whose bosom snow has lain who intimately lives with the rain... •
Lightspinner
STUDIO Martha Sechler
Unique Watercolors Mixed Media Gourd Art
4460 Helmsburg Rd. Nashville, IN • 812-988-7379 Open whenever home. Call ahead.
New Beginnings Boutique“ Where every end has a new beginning”
Like New, Gently Used, Name Brand Women’ s Clothing & Accessories
Local Ar�sts’ Handmade Gi� Items
Red Bud Terrace 946 E. Main St. • Nashville
Fawn Hill Rustic Home Décor
Lamps, Lanterns, Candles, Wreaths, Pillows, Bags, Shirts Picture Frames and more...
In the Artists Colony Shops- Upstairs( Elevator Available) 125 S. Van Buren St. • Nashville, IN • 812-200-3200
Gifts and Floral( 812) 200-3151 Open Daily 9 – 5 • Free Customer Parking 188 South Jefferson Street in Nashville, IN www. ironweedgifts. com • info @ inronweedgifts. com
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BONE APPETIT BAKERY
For Dogs
• Premium, all-natural treats since 1997
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• Gourmet and seasonal snacks, too
DOGS WELCOME!( 812) 988-0305 Open 7 days
211 S. Van Buren St.( behind Visitor Center) www. barkingood. com
Sept./ Oct. 2018 • Our Brown County 69