Truer Words - A Journal

Manchurian "Miss Kim" Lilacs IV - June, 2005

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 01:11:11 GMT

My Manchurian "Miss Kim" Lilacs put on quite a show this year.

Best ever, in fact.

When a Tree Falls, Part Two

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 18 May 2005 22:18:29 GMT

Last July, a large tree fell in the woods at the edge of our property. Quite loudly, in fact.

Last night, on the opposite side of the property, another one fell. This one was right outside the bedroom window, and it was really, really loud!

I assumed it was done by vines, the bittersweet and wild grape that so plague this area, as their first sneak attack of the season after a long Winter's truce. We're at war, and all night I plotted my own first strike. After all, I have a reputation to uphold.

Now I know better. It wasn't vines, it was an old, dead, very large tree that had finally rotted enough at the base to break and fall. It took everything out on its way down. This includes ripping an oak tree almost in half from top to bottom.

I've uploaded some photos with comments to my flickr area, showing the damage.

When a Tree Falls

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 05 Jul 2004 18:32:29 GMT

This afternoon I heard a very loud "crack!" followed by a staccato burst of smaller cracks. It sounded like fireworks, but it was coming from somewhere in the back yard!

I ran out in my bare feet to find the source of the noise. There was another great crack, followed by some rustling in the treetops, and I realized it was a tree falling in the forest behind the house. (The punny, corny jokes are zipping through my mind, but I will resist!)

From the sound, it was a very large tree, but I couldn't see it due to the density of the leaves between me and it. I returned to the house for shoes, and then went into the woods to find where it had fallen.

It was a large oak tree, perhaps 30 or 32 inches in diameter. At first glance it looked like a perfectly healthy tree had cracked at approximately my eye level, but a closer inspection revealed that the trunk had some serious issues: a large section had been scooped out by termites (I'm guessing, maybe it was some other wood-eating insect), and then something larger had made a nest in the hole. This weakened the tree, but didn't cause it to fall. What actually brought it down -- and this was no surprise at all -- was the large group of wild grape vines that grow mercilessly around here.

(The wild grape in this area seems to be working in concert with the Bittersweet vine. I hate them both, and that's no exaggeration. I'd have killed those that were pulling on this tree, if I had known about them, but they were too far into the woods for me to have noticed. It's enough just trying to keep up with those creeping in from the edges of the yard.)

Also of note was the smell. I love the smell of freshly cut wood, but I first noticed the rot by smelling it, unfortunately. The realization went something like, "Sniff... mmm, that smells good... oh yuck, it smells rotten."

Anyway, being there for the death of a large tree is such a rare occurence, I had to describe it. I'd like to believe that this leaves room for other, smaller trees to grow up in its place, but nothing will grow very tall unless the vines are dealt with first. They're evil.

More Manchurian 'Miss Kim' Lilac Pictures

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 29 Jun 2003 20:41:38 GMT

The incessant spring rains were obviously very good for my lilacs, they were fantastic this year.

For a few years I've been trying to take a picture that fools you into thinking you can smell them -- remember that I only get a couple days each year to try -- and I think I've finally done it. You need to know what they smell like already, of course (my photography's not that good!), but if you do then check out the largest version of the last picture on my latest page of manchurian lilac pictures.

Mums the Word: That's Not Right!

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 19 May 2002 18:54:08 GMT

A flower shop between my house and the coffee shop had a sign out this morning that said:

Mums

$0.69 per stem
or
$10.99 a Dozen

Um... I'll just take 12 individual stems, if it's all the same to you.

Picture of Manchurian "Miss Kim" Lilac Buds

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 06 May 2001 07:48:59 GMT

Shot Taken: April 25, 2001
300 x 400, 600 x 800, 1200 x 1600

With everything in our yard starting to come back to life, I decided to try for some "bud shots", and see what I could come up with.

What I got was one of my best shots ever, in my opinion. This looks like it was painted, especially at the larger sizes (click on one of the links to see more details). This picture is of a bud on a young "Miss Kim" Manchurian Lilac, at least two weeks before it opened.

The buds look like grapes, or raspberries, don't they? Weird.

I didn't do anything to it (no manipulation in PhotoShop, or anything like that) to get this "painted" effect. It's all natural.

People Come Here for Lilacs!?

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 03 May 2001 14:02:33 GMT

I'd never have guessed this. If someone had asked me, I'd have said the most common reason that people would find this site in a search engine would be related to cycling.

Nope. The most read message on this site is about my Manchurian Lilacs! All of those hits come directly from a search on one of Google's many incarnations. I can see why... if you search for lilacs, Manchurian Lilacs, or pictures of Lilacs, it's always in the top three results. That's sort of weird, but I like it.

Speaking of the lilacs, they're almost ready to bloom. I'm trying to find some more bushes, though, because one of mine is slowly dying.

I have some new pictures of the buds, as well as pictures of some of the other interesting stuff around the yard. I guess if that's why people come here, I should make sure I post them.