I'd probably prefer to upload this into the Meditation forum but maybe it wouldn't be approved so I've put it here.
Meditation on the Images of Aust.Red Cedar.
The idea is to look at the photos and to try and take in the essence of the trees with their appealing form and if we're lucky, a contrasting nearby rock, to give an appreciation of nature and the wonder of existence.
Can I give a little more information to see things in some sort of context.
When Australia was first settled by the English in 1788, it didn't take them long to discover this tree and its remarkable wood. In Australia, there are perhaps two forest types, one dominated by fire, the vast majority and dominated by Eucalyptus and Acacias and a much smaller area of rainforests where there are no fires. This forest has many different species and Red Cedar is just one of them. The wood of RC is a deep red colour, beautifully figured, easy to use, takes a good polish, has an alluring aroma and makes wonderful furniture . It didn't take long before the tree was being ruthlessly exploited becoming the young colony's most valuable export. This contiuned on until the 1850's when gold was discovered and another exploitation commenced. The logging continued on until about the 1870's when the best of the trees had been taken and by the 1920's the furniture making trade for RC had mostly come to an end. Some people even thought that the tree had become extinct but this was an exaggeration.
Ever since I was a child, I've had a love of trees and timber. As a young adult, I got a job, saved all my money and purchased my cleared and run down former rainforest farm with the intention of replanting it with trees. This I have now mostly completed but about half way through my project, I noticed that there was quite a lot of natural regeneration RC trees here and I did the first of my RC inventories. Now with my updated inventory, I give the trees a number, measure them, place them on a mud map and as a token gesture to the modern world, photograph them and put these photos online.
These trees have been described as being Australia's tree of history. It is the allure of the tree, the wood, its aroma and the furniture that has driven their extreme exploitation. As a youngish tree, they are very individualistic with an even sensual form. As they get bigger, I suppose their individuality might be lost a little but almost all of my trees are relatively young. In conventional forestry, trees are grown straight, but with RC, bent trees are good as a bend means the desired figured wood in the board and furniture. Large trees can be well over a 1000 years old.
The word Cedar is also quite wrong. A true Cedar tree is a pine, while these trees are flowering and really they should be called a Mahogany which they are also related to.
I'd like to think that people can look at the photos and take in an impression of the tree with their alluring form.There is a word, sharawagi meaning pleasing irregularity, which I think can be used. I want to add that trees live and die, but furniture made from them can theoretically last indefinitely. Those graceful bends growing the figured wood of wondrous beauty is capable in the hands of craftsmen of becoming appreciated time and time again into the indefinite future. Nature, trees and wood are one of the ways to save the planet. The beauty of the tree, wood and furniture nurtures our soul. I hope looking/meditation at the photos is quietly meaningful. I also hope the links work.
https://app.photobucket.com/u/BobWhi...1-e00cb659d631
https://app.photobucket.com/u/BobWhi...9-b71f4b88395a
https://app.photobucket.com/u/BobWhi...2-a642437e916b