The Great Sycamore, Under Blue February Skies

I was headed for the Arboretum, thinking how dramatic the bright morning light would look shining through that pretty row of poplars, when I suddenly changed my course. It was trees I wanted, trees I needed, but it was a much bigger tree I had in mind: the mighty sycamore at Centre Furnace Mansion.

It was a bitter February morning, and I had my coat zipped up tight, my hood down, my gloves on. But I was still cold, somehow. The wind chapped my cheeks, nipped my nose, rattled the branches. But I loved the wind, I loved the cold, for it made me feel fully alive. So there I was, out and about among it, all for the love of a tree.

I don't think you'll recognize this tree, as I've only included two photos of it on Blip so far, but I suspect there will be more to come. I framed it through a trellis arch (on the left) once, and a second time, through the pretty little gazebo (on the right).

This is the first time I'm including a photograph of the tree from what I think of as "the front," which is to say, the side facing the mansion itself, and College Ave. The tree is more than 260 years old and it was alive during the signing of the Constitution (so says that tiny marker you can see just in front of the tree).

The sycamore is, according to a lady I ran into on this morning, a fellow tree lover, actually TWO trees grown together. And when I stood in the tree shadow and photographed it, as I love to do, I could almost SEE the two separate trees linked together, dancing in the morning light, against a blue February sky.

I was seized by the strange desire, as I left the sycamore, to go over to the Arboretum and bid a good day to another favorite tree, the red elm, and carry along greetings from the sycamore. They are probably only a mile or so apart, but they never get to chat. Alas, I had no time for that, so I must pass along those greetings on some other day.

There are just times when a girl needs to go and visit a big tree, and at more than 100 feet tall, this is one of the biggest and best trees I know of, locally. The soundtrack is a tune from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Something Big.