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| Eucalypt Citiadora (Lemon Scented Gum) |
John Williamson - "Give Me a Home Among the Gum Trees"
Welcome to Sunday in South Australia - cold and damp and beautiful, with the forecast of rain again later today. I had a lovely time yesterday with lunch at the beach, good food, good conversation and then a visit to our daughter and her partner. It was beautiful to see the raindrops on the gum trees in their garden and to see the gum trees that I often watched from my hospital room.
Driving around I was very aware of the gum trees all over this City and it put me in mind of this song and stirred memories of trees that we planted in another time and place.
We were young and had very little knowledge of gardening and planted 7 or 8 of these beautiful trees in a suburban back garden. They were very small saplings in three inch pots and were nurtured with love. We bought them at a local garden centre for 29cents each and they grew and grew.
Our daughters had a sandpit and were shaded by these beautiful trees - and now I cringe when I think of that. This beautiful tree is often referred to as "The Widow Maker" which refers to how branches will just suddenly fall. We thought we were providing a safe play place for our two little girls (and often lots of their friends) by providing shade from the severe Australian sun. Such great relief that these trees did not damage anyone.
They were a bit like Topsy and just "growed" and "growed" and were beautiful but became a hazard and had to be lopped so that they did not interfere with electrical cables. It was a very sad day when they all had to be taken down. Of course this sad event was recorded on photograph and I share some of these with you.
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| the last tree standing |
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| Man at work |
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| Just hanging around |
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| Down she goes |
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| Men at work again |
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| You would never get me up there. |
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| Our gum trees all felled and cut up |
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| Quite a lot of saw dust. |
Please bear in mind that there were several of these trees so it was a difficult and long job for the experts and costly to those who innocently planted these.
I certainly have no regrets about planting them - they brought much joy but it could have been a very different story. They did provide lovely shade and cast beautiful afternoon shadows across the lawn.
I am so happy to live in this beautiful country and have a "home among the gum trees" because apart from the absolute beauty of our country, I value the freedom I have, the freedom of speech, wonderful medical care, clear skies and the magnificent flora and fauna.
It has been a walk down memory lane for me and I hope you have enjoyed visiting and reading "The Musings from My Heart" from my "home among the gum trees" - I am a very proud Australian by choice.
Love and hugs,
Linda
http://about.me/lindajvaughan
1 comment:
I love our home among the Gum Trees and my all time favourite is angophora costata (also Widow Maker), It is sad when these trees have to come down but they are very good at being spread by birds and possums. So I hope you find a tree that came from yours and get to admire it's beauty too
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