My ancient pear tree

[monday1957]

In my Daily Diary post I mentioned where I shall be spending some of today - under the pear tree at the bottom of the garden, out of the heat.

The house where I've lived for the past 42 years is Victorian. Several years ago, a car pulled up outside in the road and the two elderly ladies inside were looking up at the house. We started chatting and it transpired that the older of the two (now in her mid-90s) was actually the mother of the woman driving and she had once lived as a child in my house. I invited them in, fascinated. She said all she could remember of the house was the steps down inside, but then when she stepped into the back garden, her eyes welled up as she gazed up at the pear tree. She said she recalled her father planting the sapling some 90 years previously...

[Lytham 3 stone]

Awe bless her, that's lovely! x

[Xana23 1st 7lbs]

What a lovely story - I knew your ancient pear tree sounded like a magical spot in your daily diary entry! Enjoy your day today and sitting under its shade in this heat! 😊

[lucigret]

What a beautiful story, it was kind of you to let the ladies in and I am sure that lady left very happy knowing that the pear tree was still there, as well as having brought back some lovely memories for her

[monday1957 2kg Restart Jan 2025 in reply to lucigret]

I feel like the temporary guardian of the tree and hope that when I'm gone, whoever lives here will love it as much as I do. I have fond memories of my three kids playing under it and swinging back and forth from the little rope swing. Oscar the cat likes a mad half hour tearing up and down it, too. Alas, the pears are always hard like small bullets now (the tree was probably not pruned regularly enough) but in the autumn sometimes I gather them up and make pear crumble.

Recently, so many neighbours have been removing the big trees from their gardens. Nothing I can do about it, of course, but it's always a bit sad to see the greenery completely vanished.

I'm currently reading a wonderful book, The Well Gardened Mind, by Sue Stuart Smith. She's a psychoanalyst and very keen gardener and the book is all about the benefits of links with nature, mental, physical and spiritual, upon us. Being in lockdown has made most of us value nature even more.

[lucigret in reply to monday1957]

If only that pear tree could tell it's tales, it sounds as though it has been loved and the centre of some lovely memories.

We have a lot of trees in our garden. When we moved in there were two wrongly placed and we had to remove them. They were very old, (one being a pear that had a disease and was dying). We felt awful taking them down, but now have a dozen trees in the garden. We had several more along the back fence that didn't belong to us, recently new people moved in and they have taken them all down, it made us feel both angry (as it has taken away some privacy) and sad to loose them as the birds loved them both for the berries and for nesting.

We have always been nature lovers and have definitely benefitted from the beauty that that brings into our lives and I think you are absolutely right, lockdown has made us value it even more. I just wish that it would make a long lasting difference and that people don't forget too soon, as they all return to their normal, busy lives, where there is no time to stop and listen and look and enjoy all that is around us. The wildlife must have felt so free during this time.

[monday1957 2kg Restart Jan 2025 in reply to lucigret]

Hi lucigret and my sympathies at the grief you felt when your neighbours removed those trees. Sunday afternoon found me in utter despair as our new neighbours had dug up what they thought was a knobbly old stick their side of the fence - but it was actually the root of the heavenly honeysuckle that cascaded, full of fragrant flower, over our side of the fence...within two hours it was drooping. I sobbed as we cut away its branches that evening. It was like saying farewell to an old friend that used to return each summer.

The garden next door used to admittedly be a jungle of a place but the neighbours have removed everything now apart from the weeping willow that droops over our side, that I asked them to keep if possible. We have lost all the ‘borrowed height’ of the trees and shrubs, the creatures have lost their nesting places and now the thrum of the North Circular is even louder, with no trees to absorb the noise.

I agree, as life returns to ‘normality’, we can only hope that nature and our natural environment do not get forgotten again.

[TheTabbyCat Administrator SS Supercook 16kg]

Awww,that's so moving!

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone]

What a wonderful story. I'm sure she was delighted to see it going strong and very much appreciated, still

[blindinglights]

that is both a beautiful picture and a beautiful story, when we were little my dad planted an eating apple tree for my brother, a cooking apple tree for me and a pear tree for my sister, sadly they were taken down a couple of years ago, I'm 46 so we had the joy of them for over 40 years. I have a big tree in my garden that I planted 19 years ago as a little sapling and sitting under that is one of my precious places, I bet that old lady is still smiling after her visit to you xxx

[monday1957 2kg Restart Jan 2025 in reply to blindinglights]

Ah, that’s a lovely story too.

Here is a brief excerpt from The Well Gardened Mind:

‘A seedling is so much smaller than we are and we provide it with care and protection, but in the shelter of a tree , it is we who are the small one and we can lean on its great strength...It is perhaps a natural impulse to take distress and suffering that is hard to articulate to a form of life that has no words...examples of ancient rites involved in tree worship from around the world ...suggest that this impulse lies deep within the psyche. Some of the rituals involve a symbolic transfer of illness, grief or guilt onto a tree, reflecting the belief that a tree can bear the weight of human suffering. It is as if in its mute and reassuring presence, a tree can accept us along with whatever ails us and will not flinch from our loneliness, our sorrow or our pain.’

[blindinglights in reply to monday1957]

that is lovely, no wonder I love my tree so much I think it's got my back after reading that, without going into too much detail, I've had a rough couple of years. I divorced after 22 years, I sadly lost my best mate my mum and I'm facing a couple of problems medically at the moment. I think I might take a gin and have a little sit with my tree tonight ready for my CT results tomorrow, thank you for sharing that extract with me, I'm going to come back to that time and again xxx

[Lavender54 in reply to blindinglights]

Sending hugs.

[monday1957 2kg Restart Jan 2025]

Hi blinding lights and I'm sorry to hear of your losses and worries.

I'll be thinking of you under your tree this evening and sincerely wish you all the best news with your results tomorrow. Hang on in there, kiddo x

[blindinglights in reply to monday1957]

Arhh thank you I'm a pritty positive person in general, so I'm hoping for some good news. Hope you have a fab day 💞

[Progressoverperfect Restart June 2024]

That's just made my eyes damp x how lovely x

[Hidden]

This is beautiful

Thank you all for sharing these stories and Monday for sharing your gorgeous tree. It's as magical as it sounded in your post...

[monday1957 2kg Restart Jan 2025 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you - and that’s the power of trees! 🌳🌳🌳

[Pipsoldmum]

How lovely is that, it’s to be treasured then, bless her old heart! ❤️