For the blessings of the right amount of rain at the right times, I give thanks.

For the blessings of trees I give thanks.

“Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”

― Anonymous Greek Proverb

Minnesota is a green place to live in the summertime when there’s plenty of rain. This year is one of the greenest I remember. At midsummer, with hot steamy days, it’s still green, green, green.

With my love of trees and green things, it’s been heavenly. And while there are some mosquitoes around this year they haven’t bothered me a lot. I think our dry mild winter and early spring may have helped.

We have lost another tree in our backyard. The old willow tree finally gave up and fell into the pond a couple of weeks ago. There is one trunk of the willow remaining upright but we know that both the fallen tree in the pond and the remaining trunk need to be removed as it is only a matter of time before it too falls in the pond.

Green is the prime color of the world and that from which its loveliness arises. — Pedro Calderon de la Barca

It will look vastly different without the willow and the basswood tree (which we lost to a storm 2 years ago).

But I’ve learned that life is resilient and new things come from changes, even changes that we resist.

After the loss of the basswood tree, with more sun reaching the backyard, we planted black raspberries, red raspberries, and blueberry bushes near our house. My black raspberries just finished giving me a most delicious early July with plentiful berries every day for 2 weeks.

Once we see and experience the yard without the willow tree I am hoping that we will find the perfect place to plant a tree or two to replace some of those we have lost. We may never see much shade from these trees, but hopefully someday someone will.

With climate change threatening to make huge shifts in our world, Minnesota may not stay the green haven we have come to know and love. It is my hope that the little things I do like planting trees can make a small difference.

We each need to find ways to make a small difference.

May you walk in beauty.