This tree growing in the rockery area of Edinburgh’s Botanical Gardens has long fascinated me. I took this shot of it last weekend, but I don’t really think it’s looked any different in all the time I’ve known it, and that’s over a period of 20 years.
For some reason, it’s always reminded me of the tale of Rip Van Winkle, the man who lay down for a nap and then slept a hundred years. I think this tree with its limblike roots resembles a slumbering figure - one who has spent so long in the land of nod that he has begun to take on the qualities of a tree, and who has become rooted to the spot.
I suppose in some ways I identify with this arborescent creature - my own roots run deep in this earth and I can spread my branches all the higher and wider because of it. Over the two decades that I’ve known this tree, I have changed a lot, my life has taken many twists and turns, people have entered and left my life enriching it during our short acquaintance, and I’ve even moved around from house to house, whilst always remaining in the country where I know I belong.
It is my sense of and for place that binds me to my roots, and I am strengthened and nourished by that sense, by my embeddedness in my spiritual home.
Where do you most strongly feel your sense of place? Do you feel more energised when you visit certain places, or are have you found the place which nourishes your soul and are living there permanently? How do you express your love for your spiritual home?
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Hi Amy,
In a world of constant change, it’s nice to stop and appreciate the constants in our life. I like that you feel a sense of belonging in your country and that this tree is a good reminder of who you are.
I am often saddened by the brevity of certain relationships… but your perspective shed some light on the values that have endured in my life over the years.
Thanks for sharing!
-Steph
This is a wonderful photo - I can see Rip sprawled on his back, legs akimbo!
Yes, I share a very deep connection with my “adopted” state - 300 miles from the place of my birth. I am comfortable here yet challenged, rooted in earth through her gift of nature, connected to her people and their diversity and all I can learn from them. I love to travel and have visited nearly all the United States and Canadian Provinces, and hope to see the other continents, too, if I am lucky, but I do love coming home to my ‘place’.
Bos last blog post..“Over, Under, Sideways, Down . . .
Amy,
good question. It’s funny but I have a few places where I feel at home: yesterday I walked the streets of Berlin, where I have been living for over 25 years now, and I felt very much at home. Before that I was looking through the pictures I took in several years in Bavaria, and I felt at home too. Can you be at home at more than one place? To me, it seem possible.
Ullas last blog post..Bavaria Series #6 Landscapes - Spitzingsee
Amy, what a wonderful picture and do you know for all the times I’ve been to the Botanics I don’t think I’ve ever noticed it!
You probably know my answer: my sense of place comes when I go to the west highlands. It’s the air; the vegetation; the layer upon layer of hill, mountain, loch; the soft rain; the Calmac boats; the Gaelic place names; it’s… I don’t know, it’s a combination of all these things that says to me, look, you’re here, you’re home. And my response is to walk, write, take pictures and feel wildly gladly alive, always.
It’s taken me a long time to realise that living in the city, on the east coast, was dampening my spirit. I think it’ll fly when I move.
Joanna
PS I love the use of arborescent - not too many people could get away with this, but you are one of them
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Amy, what a fascinating setting! I can see ol’ Rip laying there, snoring away while they’re playing 10-pins up in the heavens…
We’ve traveled quite extensively, even living away from the home town for an extended time or three, but I have to say, every time we return to the wide-open skies of Texas, it’s definitely a feeling of “returning home”. Funny, though; it’s not Houston that feels like home, but the entire State. Somethin’ in the air, no doubt…
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You won’t believe this but I just purchased a home that has a tree in front with roots kind of like that. I smell dynamite in my future!
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