Arbor Day

1arbor or chiefly Brit arbour n [ME erber plot of grass, arbor, fr. OF herbier plot of grass, fr. herbe herb, grass]:a bower of vines or branches or of latticework covered with climbing shrubs or vines

2arbor n [L, tree, shaft]

Arbor has always been a romantic word for me. Probably because of definition 1. I suspect my first understanding of the word came from reading fairy tales of princesses in their bowers.

There was an arbor over the entrance to the storage cave at my great-grandparents, Rufe & Kate Ridnour's. I don't remember what plants vined over it - grapes, I think. I just remember it as a cool place to sit in the summer.

Arbor Day - a day set aside for the planting of trees - was a date I first became aware of in grade school. I don't remember ever planting a tree especially on that day while at Jasper #2, but we may have.

What I do remember is learning that Arbor Day was founded in Nebraska City, NE by J. Sterling Morton - the first one being held on April 10, 1872 when an estimated one million trees were planted. The Morton family had an extensive apple orchard on their farm west of Nebraska City which is now included in the Arbor Lodge State Historical Park.

I took Mom and the kids to Nebraska City many years ago to tour the Morton Lodge and park. There had been so much rain that Hwy 2 leading up to the Missouri River bridge was almost under water - the low fields on both sides of the road were all flooded and it was still raining - a little scary. In the early 80's Bud & I went to Nebraska City so he could run the Applejack Road Race as part of the Arbor Day festivities.

Arbor Day is now generally held the last Friday in April. The date varies around the world. For many years Arbor Day was observed on April 22 which was Morton's date of birth and which is now observed as Earth Day.

Over the years I have personally planted or contributed to the planting of many trees. Having a tree planted in Ireland in honor of my brother Ron's 50th birthday has become one of my family's jokes: I ordered the tree planting in March - plenty of time to receive the special certificate before his May birthday. The certificate arrived promptly. I put it where I would know where it was when it came time to enclose it in his birthday card. Yeah, I forgot where I put it. So all I could do was 'tell' him I'd had a tree planted in Ireland for him, thinking I would soon find the proof. That was twenty years ago. I still have not found the certificate (which included directions to 'his' tree in Ireland). Thus, the family joking whenever I purchase something special ahead of time and put it "where I'll know where it is" when the occasion occurs.

One of the ironic similarities Bud and I have discovered in our years together was that as kids we both had wished we had a weeping willow. In celebration of Earth Day in 1999, we planted a weeping willow at Orchard Prairie with the help of Preston, Shalea, Ki, Kathryn, Deise, Dominique and Devin. (Shalea & kids in picture above a few years later.)

As I wrote about in my February 7 blog, I love trees. I won't be planting any here at Quiet Harbor, but I can continue to contribute to plantings in other locations and to observe both Earth Day and Arbor Day each year.