Still Reading: Yet More Trees of The Overstory
Thanks for hanging in there with me, readers—I promise to read other books. One storyline spends a lot of time living in a redwood tree, and in what I assume is a natural coincidence, I am magnetically drawn to a banner with treehouse options on AirBnb.
The final chapters of the book are, well, bittersweet. This seems only fair when reading a book about environmentalism these days. Everyone on the right side of history is doing their best, yet it does feel insufficient to the challenges ahead of us.
“But their eyes glaze over when she tells them how all these threats are made fatal by one single thing: the ongoing overhaul of the atmosphere by people burning once-green things.”
Ever since I read this sentence, I’ve looked furtively at the firewood for my fireplace. I sincerely love wood fires, but it’s beginning to sink in what the cost is. I’ve started researching greener options like envirologs and coffee logs, but if anyone out there has suggestions, I’m all ears.
I don’t want to get into virtue signaling, but I am helpless to the charms of new gear, so… a colleague has what looks to be an aesthetically simple notebook on his desk, and I can’t help but check out the label. Much to my surprise, the notebook paper is made with stone! No wood or water go into their making, so this seems like a fortuitous product discovery when I’m trying to cut back on paper items (but never you, books, you’re exempt).
To add a few more trees to my list:
Ray Brinkman and Dorothy Cazaly: Oaks are fellow actors in their production of Macbeth, and a linden tree is their first anniversary gift.
Douglas Pavlicek: Doug’s story includes several trees (ficus, banyan) but in a nod to his larger story, we’ll give Douglas fir top billing.
Neelay Mehta: Breaks his legs from an encinas (which seems to be another kind of oak) tree, and finds inspiration in a Queensland bottle tree.
Patricia Westerford: the already lost beech tree forest that her father points out stuck with me. Alongside the absolute shade of this quote: "No one else at her school can even tell a hickory from a hop hornbeam. The fact strikes her as bizarre."
Olivia Vandergriff: While Olivia’s history with ex Davy is referenced through cherry blossoms, we’ll give redwoods a nod as well.