Field trip..........................

 My Sweetie and I visited the world-class Dawes Arboretum in suburban Newark this afternoon.  A good time was had:

Hearing the beat.................

........................of a different drummer.   This crab apple tree, in defiance of the calendar, decided to throw a few blossoms our way yesterday.

 (Apparently, it happens).

Surely you jest.............................

History being what it is, who knows?  The Oracle Google was consulted (in a hurry and without much depth).   Wiki on Wotan is here.  One version of "why Christmas trees" is here.

Kurt's twitter feed is here.

An equal sense................................

thanks michael

Ho-ho-ho..................................

So, that's how she did it..........................

........................low-stress Christmas tree decorating - here.

I'm liking our tree this year:

A perfect tree topping..............................

via

Traditions................................

An ode to trees.........................

The View From the Ledge offers a prayer for the trees.  Having just recently cleaned up some magnificent old oak trees from the truly significant damage wrought by our summer wind storm, it struck a chord.  Jeff also pointed to some "tree poems", and having just shoveled the driveway amid snow-draped evergreens, this one resonated:

Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance...... 
-Osho