November 5th: Plant a woods

I have so much respect for my Papa.  He influenced me far more then I realized…his love of photography, his desire to do things right, he has incredible work ethic, he’s just plain awesome in my book.  One of the things he did was plant a woods.  He planted trees every year that they lived in their house in Medina.  He planted so many trees that when I was growing up there were woods all around their house.  And we played in the woods, we made forts, we picked the blackberries, we ran through the neat rows of trees.  It was so great to be out there.

I’m a city girl – I spent the day in Manhattan yesterday and I love it – I love the bustle – the smell of sweet peanuts roasting – the number of chins you get to see as people take a minute to look up.  I think part of me loving the city though was because it was the farthest thing away from where I grew up.  It was great – don’t get me wrong – but there was a desire to be as far away as possible.  And now there is a desire to plant a woods, a woods that maybe one day my grandchildren will build forts in, pick blackberries and run through neat rows of trees.

My Papa way back in September 2007 (he’d probably like me to note that he’s gotten EVEN more handsome since then…and I would agree)