I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
I was reminded of Joyce Kilmer's poem Trees this week by hmoat 01's gallery of a lone sycamore tree that sits atop Oker Hil in Darley Dale. The gallery consists of four simple shots, one taken in each of the seasons.
The tree has poetic form of its own. It was planted a couple of hundred years ago, along with another, to commemorate the parting of two brothers. One was leaving to seek his fortune abroad. The other was staying put. Wordsworth was so moved by the gesture he wrote a sonnet about it called The Keepsake. One brother became successful and his tree thrived. The other met misfortune and an early death and his tree died.
In a week where things got a little heated over on the forum, hmoat 01's pictures, and Wordsworth's poem faithfully transcribed below it, were a gentle reminder of the things that are really important in life.
Over in just back from, ukdani had a lesson on looking on the brighter side of life after getting stuck in Lukla for five days when bad weather derailed a trekking holiday in Nepal.
“I wanted an adventure,” says ukdani. “I certainly got it!” One piece of useful information if you get stuck too. Starbucks in Lukla is Mission Control.
Travmaz is back from an exciting jaunt through Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya. Much wildlife perused, of course. But travmaz suggests avoiding Kigali on the last Saturday of the months. It is compulsory for everyone to clean their houses that day and nothing opens until everything is spick and span. Of course, you could always grab a bottle of Cillit Bang and help out.
Marymartin went to Japan for a couple of weeks. Didn't get to see Mt Fuji – low cloud and poor weather – but loved the Gion district in Kyoto. One tip – if you're going to eat cross-legged on the floor wearing a yukata, you might consider putting on some long leggings!
Nomadly watched thousands of lanterns float up into the sky above Chiang Mai for the Yi Peng festival. NCSLane watched the sunset over the Eiffel Tower. And Howellsey's back from a four-month honeymoon all over the place.
Over on the forum, and it seems myWanderlust is THE place to come if you want advice on doing the trek to Everest Base Camp. Jill Frazier is off there next April and her post asking for advice is a buzz with tips on everything from training, how to avoid altitude sickness and what to eat. In short, everything you'd expect from a well-travelled, supportive travel community.
Others looking for advice – and getting it – were greenerr who was looking for tips on spending 36 hours in Fiji and Calamine2808 who is off to Cairo today and wants to know whether she should be worried.
Still on the forum, JayR asked if you've ever been ill or injured while travelling and had to be flown home. It makes pretty grisly reading, but it did give Sergeant Pluck the opportunity to tell his frozen dog poo story again.
Indeed, he tells tale in full over at experiences, which got a little scatological this week with DrG reminiscing about a -20C barbie with the Aussie Antarctica Division. TaraGoldsmith raises the tone with a story about a visit to the Capital Museum in Beijing before Liz Cleere takes it slightly south again with a tale about sucking root balloons in Shangri-la.
The standard over at the myWanderlust photography galleries remains resolutely high. Ukdani has some lovely shots from Nepal. Angela R has some fabulous photos from Grand Teton National Park. And greenerr's gallery has stunning images from around the world. All very soothing and calming.
Which brings me back to mhoat 01's tree. Next time life – or a particular forum post – gets you hot under the collar, go to hmoat 01's gallery and gaze upon her tree. To paraphrase Joyce Kilmer: “Blogs are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.”
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