This is the tale of a tree, a remarkable tree: "My Olympian."
A treasure of nature who has been marked by nature in quite an usual way. I call him "My Olympian" and he's made quite a mark on me over the years. Even as his own marks evolve as nature changes and ages him, he continues to captivate me.
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| My Olympian: 32 years of fascination. |
I don't know when I first spotted him. He was a youth then, not fully formed; angular, curved in all the right places, always reaching for the sky. For the past 32 years, I have greeted him every time I pass on my way home. As he grew, his body "muscled up" and became ever more distinctive. I do love him still, he is a rare beauty, continuing to reach up with his split arms raised to the heavens.
Nature formed him and has nourished him even in his stillness. I cannot know if he is a happy man; he has no head, no face to share his emotions. I cannot imagine his head, the shape, if he is smiling or sad. But that has never mattered to me; he was always there to greet me home.
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| My Olympian: remarkable from all angles. |
Early in our relationship I thought of getting in touch with whomever owns him to ask if I could have him, but abandoned that thought because I didn’t want to cut him down even though his form is near perfection.
Ours is a romance between us that remains for as long as we live, or one of us passes. A special quiet meeting as we pass.
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Next month my project will come to fruition. I will share the video we made of Meryl (the dancer) and me (the mark-maker). It is only a small part of the project, but a very important part. The video of us making our marks.
After that I will keep you posted on what we do with the video, and how the project will continue to unfold.
