I hadn't realized I was so insistent about planting trees at my house.
Yesterday's birch tree was the first thing into the ground when we moved in, along with a lilac bush and 200 daffodil bulbs. When we planted it it came up to my forehead. Now it towers over the house and thinks about visiting Aerin's room. And it pisses off my neighbor, but that is a different problem.
Today's tree came with the house. It is a sugar maple centered in the back yard where it doesn't aggravate anyone. Half of it died two years ago, suddenly and mysteriously. I was waiting for the other half to go so I could call the tree guys to take it down, but against my expectations it has been fine so I called the tree guys to come and trim back the dead stuff instead.
I made a rubbing of the leaf with Pentel dye sticks onto silk organza. The Pentel dye sticks feel like Cray-Pas – a kind of waxy pastel crayon in deep colors. Then it looked like the dye stick was holding onto the leaf so I added some more and ironed it off onto the base circle where it made a faint leaf impression.
Lee Thomson 