Welcome to where I am, where my kitchen's always messy, a pot's (or a poet) always about to boil over, a dog is always begging to be fed. Drafts of poems on the counter. Windows filled with leaves. Wind. Clouds moving over the mountains. If you like poetry, books, and music--especially dog howls when a siren unwinds down the hill-- you'll like it here.


MY NEW AUTHOR'S SITE, KATHRYNSTRIPLINGBYER.COM, THAT I MYSELF SET UP THROUGH WEEBLY.COM, IS NOW UP. I HAD FUN CREATING THIS SITE AND WOULD RECOMMEND WEEBLY.COM TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN SETTING UP A WEBSITE. I INVITE YOU TO VISIT MY NEW SITE TO KEEP UP WITH EVENTS RELATED TO MY NEW BOOK.


MY NC POET LAUREATE BLOG, MY LAUREATE'S LASSO, WILL REMAIN UP AS AN ARCHIVE OF NC POETS, GRADES K-INFINITY! I INVITE YOU TO VISIT WHEN YOU FEEL THE NEED TO READ SOME GOOD POEMS.

VISIT MY NEW BLOG, MOUNTAIN WOMAN, WHERE YOU WILL FIND UPDATES ON WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MY KITCHEN, IN THE ENVIRONMENT, IN MY IMAGINATION, IN MY GARDEN, AND AMONG MY MOUNTAIN WOMEN FRIENDS.




Sunday, September 28, 2008

Trees

Trees have been woven into my life and my imagination since the first day I could hold up my head and look around the place where I was raised. The oak trees around our house and out on the borders of fields seemed like gods to me, watching over us and the land.



This photograph I call Treescape. I took it looking out toward what used to be pasture, just a few yards from our backyard.




I took this photo bouncing along in the pickup truck while my brother drove us through the pine stands that are part of my late father's tree farm.



These old oak trees stood at the border of the acreage we drove through looking at the various stands of pine.



And finally, longleaf pine, a quick glimpse as we finished our drive-through. We are trying to encourage more longleaf on the farm. If you want to know more about this native species, read Janisse Ray's ECOLOGY OF A CRACKER CHILDHOOD. And go to the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center's website--www.jonesctr.org The Center is located in Baker County in the Dougherty Plain of southwestern Georgia.

5 comments:

Vicki Lane said...

Live oaks and longleaf pine were part of my childhood too. And Spanish moss -- so romantic even if it was full of redbugs!

And speaking of romantic -- that road running straight through the orderly lines of trees inflames my imagination.

Tipper said...

Love the trees!!

James D. Hogan said...

a couple of things...

a) I grew up on Loblolly Lane, which is a somewhat longleaf pine... anyway, we had tons of them in the yard.

b) Did you know that the NC state toast begins with "Here's to the land of the longleaf pine"?

c) Davidson's summer reading selection was _Ecology_, and Ray is going to be coming to campus sometime soon to speak. The same book was WCU's reading project one year I was there (not my freshman year, though), and I was somehow able to grab a copy then. When I heard about Davidson's plans, I immediately volunteered to lead a discussion group with the freshmen. A tremendous experience!

Jane said...

My dad was from Mississippi. He brought back and planted a long leaf pine in our old yard in E. TN. I think it's still alive here in the East Tennessee mountains. Used to be quite a curiosity.

Crafty Green Poet said...

lovely photos,