newsflash

o.k. So I am home and can review the DC adventure.

First off, I (we) missed conference and I can't tell you how bummed I am about that, so keep writing folks, I have to wait until Thursday before I can read the talks in full. I view it as punishment, (thank you Jewish heritage.)

Alrighty then. I have been to DC now, three times. Every time I go there is something I pick up on that I didn't know before. This time the big epiphany was trees.

DC 4-06
Originally uploaded by S'mee.

The east has trees, lot of 'em! I knew this the privious times I visited, but I just couldn't put my finger on why I was so caught up in the whole tree thing there.

I grew up in California. We have trees also. We have what some folks call the giants. You know, things like the sequoias or maybe the redwoods- big trees you can drive through. Heck we even name big trees here in CA after presidents, government offices and yes, General Sherman; which happens to be our biggest tree. So when I land and begin to see literally gazillions of trees lining the highway and these wooded areas between the houses and all over the place I was, to say the least, fascinated.

They kind of give me the creeps. These are the trees that you here about on the news. "A body was found near the trees along the bike path at Wildwood Park in Maryland today..." Or the kind of trees in those "Real Ghost Stories" t.v. shows. The kind with shadowy figures just out of your view that somehow are always out of focus. This is where Little Red Riding Hood disobeyed and got caught up in danger.

Another thing about these trees is they are all probably very old, but a teenaged boy couldn't hide behind one of them! These trees are seriously thin, like the size of your thigh if your lucky. I now understand what all the fuss over the redwoods is all about. I am used to seeing trees, average trees up in "my" mountains, that Thor could hide behind and never be seen or heard from again. We get reports of "lost families" or "lost troops of boy scouts" because some ranger forgot to look behind EVERY tree to see if someone was asleep as he walked by. It's possible. The trees out here, and I live in a desert, are huge compared to those on the east coast. Amazing. I am an idiot. I just now got this.