Day: Fifteen
Organization: Tree People
Activity: Tree Planting and Care
I LOVE trees. I love how they look, the shade they provide, how majestic they can be. I am fortunate enough to have a beautiful tree in my backyard that not only provides great shade on a hot Southern California day, but also is a work of art to look at. So powerful, yet delicate, so bold, yet understated.
I remember as a kid in New Jersey when my parents were having our pool put in, they made the guys work around great old trees in the backyard. My mom wanted a pool, but she wasn’t giving up these gifts of nature. And, I am so thankful, because it was just beautiful. You could float in the pool in sunshine and then find shade about mid-pool — heaven! Then, we put a hammock between two giant trees and I would just lay there looking up at the leaves in wonder.
Here in Los Angeles, it pained me to have trees taken out of our current backyard in order to put our pool in, but there was little choice — space is a little tighter in L.A. than in the suburbs of Jersey. That said, we have planted additional trees since then in the front of the house, which I love.
So, why all this talk about trees? Well, today I got to plant some at a park that Greg, Molly, Mason and I love and used to live just blocks from. So, when I had a chance to go make it even more beautiful, it was a no brainer. I jumped at the chance to go work with Tree People — if you have been following my journey, you know I was supposed to work with them on Day One, but the weather didn’t cooperate. But, I made good on my promise to work with them at some point. (if you haven’t been following, please go back and check out the past 14 days!)
I now have a tree in a great park that will hopefully live on way past my days in Los Angeles. A tree that will offer shade and beauty, not to mention a spot dogs will surely visit daily. Who knows, maybe some young couple will carve their names into that tree someday. A tree that would not be there without volunteers!
Have a look at and see what we did and some great kids I got to work with.