A Gift from a Squirrel

It’s been a constant effort of mine over the past several months to slow down the pace of life, to intentionally live more slowly. This requires allowing time to do more of what I love, such as painting and writing and gardening.

In my walk around my yard this afternoon, I discovered something unusual. There was a live maple tree sprouting out of the dead stump that we had cut down a few weeks ago. I stopped, took a second look; and yes, indeed, there was a maple tree growing out of this dead stump of a former walnut tree. The only way it could have naturally gotten there was by an ambitious squirrel. The little critter had climbed up there and hid his treasure for the winter in the hollow of a dead tree.

Gently, I pulled on the sprout and was surprised that it easily pulled out roots and all. In fact, there were two sprouts. This was thrilling! Since we’ve been cutting down the dead trees over the past few years, our big yard was starting to look empty and bare. So far this year, I’ve planted a new lilac bush, a sugar maple, and a weeping willow. Now, I found myself planting this little Arum Maple sprout in an empty area of our yard.

As I was planting the providential sprout, I was thinking of a quote I heard recently. 

 

The quote can be attributed to a French theologian, Hyacinthe Loyson, in a sermon he delivered in Paris in 1866. However, it can also be attributed to India as a proverb from that culture and also to Cicero from his writings.

Wherever this adage originated, it rang truth in my heart today. This little tree will not reach its full potential for shade and beauty until late in my life and perhaps even after I am gone from this earth. It will be my children and grandchildren who benefit from this treasure, a gift from a squirrel doing what God created it to do.

Information taken from The Quote Investigator. Web. April 29, 2020

Art Museum Alternative

This semester, my students and I are supposed to visit an art museum in conjunction with our studies of Western Civilization. However, since we're in the time of Covid-19, visiting art museums or pretty much anywhere is quite restrictive. 

As an alternative, I have decided to take the students to view public art such as murals, sculptures, and even a graffiti park. This actually works out great since the students just held a debate concerning whether or not graffiti should be legal.  

As it happens, one of my art school classmates is one of the artists who participated in a Park Wall Graffiti Festival held last weekend. I'm excited to take the students to see his artwork as well as all the other artists. I think they are more excited about this trip than they were about going to a museum!