My apple sapling is as much a part of my son’s history as the adorable little handmade boots and teddy mobile a very good friend from Denmark gave me. Apparently the boots are a Danish tradition and will bring good luck (so far so good).
However, I digress as the purpose of my post this time is to consider the early morning sapling and compare it to the early morning son.
After five months of participating in Lucy’s brilliant blog that started back in the spring, I now find myself wending my way towards the latter part of summer (and what a summer it has been!) and there are now some noticeable changes in the morning; the sun is slightly lower in the sky, the mornings are not quite so warm and the dew, or as in this morning, the overnight rain has drenched everything making it very wet underfoot and above head!
So as I stood next to my sapling this morning at 6.15, I noticed how motionless he was, no gusty winds to make him quiver; my stake held him fast, or wild grass about his base to tickle his trunk; I gave him a short back and sides. No he stood there, in the early morning late summer sunshine, just waiting…in boredom. Not really intending to do anything other than wait for the next event which will likely be foliage drop.
My son was similarly motionless…in the pit that passes for a bed waiting for the next event which will likely be breakfast.
Waiting there, next to the much bigger stronger apple trees that now droop under the weight of their fruit burden. Thinking to himself ‘I could do that. I don’t see what the big deal is’ and shrugging his shoulders as if he cares about those mature trees, whilst all the time straining, pushing just a bit harder to be the same as them.
Then there are the early morning sounds of the local cockerel cock-a-doodling and the robin pip-pipping. And I love the gentle pitter-patter of the last night’s rain that is slowly filtering down through the trees, hopping from leaf to leaf creating another artificial shower under the bows.
So many wonderful sounds not yet drowned out by the daytime noise. But my sapling ignores these fleeting moments, he is too busy trying to be like the big trees to notice the minutiae detail of his environs. Too keen to move onto the next stage of life.
But I’m keeping a close eye on him as he approaches the next season, if those leaves haven’t improved I may well have to take action to stop any possible harm further down the line when he too will hopefully be big and strong and ready to face the world.
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That’s lovely. And I too like the sound of raindrops falling after rain has ended.
It has a much more gentle comforting sound than the rain hammering down onto the tree. Though I reckon you still get just as wet!!
What a lovely post, I wish you and your sapling all the best.
Thank you Alison. I think I may have to take evasive action with the leaf mould but despite it, he continues to grow taller!
Lovely to read about your Apple sapling … I almost feel I ‘know’ it personally!
http://carolinegillwildlife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/tree-following-silver-birch-in-august.html
What a perfectly lovely thing to say Caroline, thank you. That is just what I wanted to do, give him a personality that people could appreciate!
What a lovely post, I like the idea of your sapling straining to be grown up.
You are very kind Janet. I’m convinced he tries to stretch his branches each time I stand near him…a bit like my son who reminds me how much taller he is each day!