Sunday Roast: 11 Sacred and Iconic Trees

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National Geographic

A car drives through the so-called Chandelier Tree in California’s Underwood Park in the 1930s. An iconic giant, this 315-foot-tall redwood was tunneled out as a novelty during the early days of gas-powered cars.

I remember driving through this tree with my family when I was 12 or 13.  We had a great big Dodge van at the time, and the door handles barely missed the sides of the tree tunnel.  It was so cool, but I remember thinking that it was too bad that whoever hollowed out that tree had no respect for such a lovely Redwood giant.  Thank goodness the tree managed to stay alive.

Check out the other ten sacred and iconic trees, such as the baobab,  the dance tree, and the Bohdi tree, at National Geographic.

This is our daily open thread — Enjoy the trees!

125 thoughts on “Sunday Roast: 11 Sacred and Iconic Trees”

  3. A few years ago, we spent the better part of the summer camping in Arizona’s high-elevation Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. It was a beautiful experience in the midst of an astonishing population of Douglas fir, Engleman spruce, blue spruce, and Ponderosa pines. But there was a problem: everywhere one looked there were stands of dying or dead trees. Bark beetle infestations — drought-inspired and maintained — were leaving their mark everywhere, and it generated a lot of concern on my part, concern which I recorded one day whilst sitting on a ridge overlooking a patch of dead or dying forest.

    Elegy Written in a Dying Forest

    The trees are dying, one by one,
    Through fire, disease, and drought-drenched sun;
    Where once lived lush green firmament
    Now stand dried bones – in dark lament.

    I gazed upon what once had thrived
    In climate harsh, where life survived
    To offer self in Nature’s Way,
    In service — balanced — night and day.

    No other lives were lesser made
    By gathered sun, by filtered shade,
    By Spirits who, no germ of greed
    Could ever sow, yet still succeed.

    In other lands, where men are Kings,
    Where gluttony in quest of things
    Defines deep shallowness of Soul,
    Where Nature’s Way is ne’er the goal –

    ‘Tis there that men are born to die
    Not ever having sensed the sigh
    Of generous and selfless Grace
    Which ere defined this wooded place.

    Scant few amongst us find it odd
    That men pretend, and mimic God –
    And fewer still perceive or see
    God’s image -more- becomes a Tree.

    Today, the entire forest is gone, burned in June of 2011. Some 850 square miles were blackened and destroyed by a wildfire which was ignited when a summer wind blew the residue of an unextinguished campfire — left unattended courtesy of a couple of idiots — into the ponderous aftermath of drought caused by human-induced climate change.

    Perhaps it’s time for a wake-up call?

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    • Because the number of poor and uneducated is not the measure of America’s greatness, but the amount of wealth amassed by the few – that’s the true measure of American Greatness and Cod Swill.

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    • Chuck Todd thinks Romney will lose it if Obama pushes him in the debate. I think so too.

      Ralph Reed and Rendell sitting side by side, both wearing pinstriped suits, looked like a couple of gangsters in an old movie.

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      • I didn’t see it, just heard about it on the Twitter. As long as David Gregory, Obvious Republican, remains host, I won’t watch the program again unless I hear in advance that Rachel will be on. Unfortunately, when they book her, they also book that smug, arrogant prick, Alex Castellanos. But, fortunately, she’s not afraid to stop him and call “Bullpuckey” on his lies. (And she does use the word “bullpuckey.”)

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  18. Tomorrow night Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown will debate at the Tsongas Center at UMass-Lowell. The debate will be streamed live at bostonherald.com, and the moderator will be, unfortunately David Gregory, of Meet the Press.

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    • “…but the folks are generally fair, they will be watching, and they will make up their own minds.”

      If that’s really true, Bill-O, then Fox News Channel doesn’t need to opine on the debates at all, do they? But they will, and I’m sure they won;t have very many nice things to say about Obama no matter how well he cleans Mitt’s clock.

      The thing is, in the conservative mind, sounding good is more important than being good (on account of their superficial nature.) So if Romney’s answers sound good, then no matter how incoherent his answers, they’ll declare him the winner and his campaign survives at least until the next debate, and the folks watching Fox will believe Romney deserves to be president.

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  22. Not your usual timelapse. The method is not super new but it’s been catching on lately; videomakers call it hyperlapse. Essentially, moving the camera through space while shooting stills at regular intervals creates sweeping shots when played back as video. Watch in full screen and HD, if possible:

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    • Lie #6: We should raise the cap on payroll taxes.

      That would help, but those who earn money passively, with interest, dividends, rents and capital gains are currently exempt from those taxes. The law needs to be changed to include them too. If they aren’t earning the money as an employee, categorize them as self-employed, and let them pay both halves of the deduction. I had to pay it when I was self-employed, and I worked for it. I didn’t get it sitting around the pool waiting for the check to clear the bank!

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        • Is it still warm and dry out your way? We are having great weather right now. Mostly sunny days with some clouds in the afternoon and the temps are in the high 60’s during the day and low 50’s at night. It rains about every 3 or 4 days. So far, it is a perfect Fall in Pennsylvania.

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          • Still dry, which is unusual this time of year. Our temps are in the high 70s, low 80s, which is quite nice. At night, we’re down into the 50s and high 40s. The leaves are changing and beginning to fall, mostly up on top, not so much down here in the valley. I wouldn’t mind a mild winter. 🙂

            Are you getting any feedback from the realtor regarding what people are saying about your place? My hope is that these lookyloos will finally decide to make an offer, and get into a bidding war with each other. 🙂

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  27. There are six weeks left on our contract with the Real Estate agent. We have had many lookers but no takers. At this point, I’m beginning to feel like I am getting ready to settle in for the colder months. With that in mind, I guess I will be spending another fall in Pennsylvania. We live 50 miles west of Philadelphia and we visit the city whenever possible.

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    • That should be plastered on all four walls of every government center and courthouse in the country. Of course, the very same people who want the Ten Commandments on those same walls would probably burn the place down,

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  32. Via HuffPo

    BURLEY, Idaho — Fire officials say the wife of an Idaho lawmaker was injured when a room that they had converted into a gun safe exploded.

    The Times-News ( ) reports that Amy Wood, the wife of state Rep. Fred Wood, was taken by air ambulance to a Utah hospital with second-degree burns on her face and hands after the explosion Saturday night in southern Idaho. Fred Wood, R-Burley, told the newspaper that he wasn’t injured in the blast. http://bit.ly/SdMY0q

    Burley Fire Chief Keith Martin said the couple was eating dinner when the explosion occurred. Amy Wood was on the back patio – which is directly over the gun room – and the blast apparently caused the slab to collapse into the room below.

    The cause of the explosion is not yet known.

    Guns don’t kill people, gun safes owned by stupid fuckers kill (or maim) people.

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