Inspired by the wartime story of Sadako Sasaki, Attingham park decorated their Picture Gallery tree this year with origami cranes to symbolise peace and hope.

In Japanese folklore, cranes have a special significance and are said to live for 1,000 years. A legend promises that anybody who fold 1,000 paper cranes will be granted a wish.

Sadako Sasaki was a young girl in Japan who was exposed to radiation after an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. She developed Leukaemia and when is hospital began folding paper cranes, trying to reach 1,000 so that her wish could e granted. She wished for peace and a world without nuclear weapons.

Every year at the Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima, schoolchildren leave their own origami cranes in memory of Sadako and the thousands of children who were victims of the atomic bomb.*

*from an information board next to the tree

We had some complications along the way but both Christmas trees are finally up and decorated. As I was going to bed on Saturday evening I noticed that even though the heating was turned off it still appeared to be running. It is only a few weeks since we had a similar problem fixed. This meant we had to call out a service engineer to come and look at it, he phoned just as we were about to get the decorations down from the loft. This meant it was better to leave the decorations where they were until he called to fix the problem.

After he had departed we brought the decorations down and proceeded to set up the tree in the dining room which is at the front of our house. After the tree was put together it was time to drape the lights around the tree. We always check them spread out on the floor before putting them on the tree and they seemed to be working fine. However once they were draped around the tree one of the colours failed, which I suspected was terminal. Mr C fiddled with them on the tree and then at my request took them off again so they would be easier to check out. He changed the fuses and some of the bulbs and still they refused to work. I was beginning to feel uncomfortable about them and suggested that we used a spare set that we had.

One tree was adorned with the spare set of lights and decorations it was time to work on the tree in the sitting room which is at the back of the house. As I was assembling the tree Mr C looked for the lights which were nowhere to be found. He went up in the loft to see if he had left them up there by mistake. It was only when he came back down that I had the vague recollection of this set of lights failing last year. One of the colour strands had gone and as it was the type where the bulbs cannot be replaced we had binned it!! By this time it was too late to pop to the garden centre to pick up a new set up lights. That had to be done this evening and now the second tree is all sparkle and glow.

I have not had time to take any photographs yet so I will leave you with a couple from previous years.

From Little Acorns

I often take photographs of what I refer to as ‘My Oak Tree’.  Of course the old oak tree isn’t mine, it is part of nature.  The tree isn’t even in my garden; it is in the garden beyond the bridle path that runs behind my house.  I am very fond of the tree and it provides beauty and interest throughout each of the seasons of the year.  It is now so large that its branches completely span the bridle path and reach into the back corner of my garden.

A recent comment on my blog mentioned that it was a shame about the ivy growing on the trunk because it would kill the tree.  I used to think that too but, since I first thought that several years ago, the tree has grown around 10 feet (3.048 meters) and I noticed many trees in Shropshire sharing their space with ivy so I have dismissed the idea.

After the recent blog comment I decided to check the facts. I found that ivy is not a parasite and it does not kill the tree. The aerial roots are not penetrative and the ivy’s roots are firmly in the ground beneath the tree.  The relationship between tree and ivy is symbiotic.  The ivy attracts wildlife so the oak tree is always full of life. Visitors to my tree include blue tits, great tits, coal tits, wrens, sparrows, blackbirds, pigeons, insects and, on one memorable occasion, a poplar hawk-moth descended and settled on me just above my waist.  This was quite alarming because poplar hawk-moths are quite large (wingspan 65-90 mm).  Luckily it didn’t flap around like moths normally do; it just glided in and came to rest gently.  It was coaxed off me and went to settle inside the kitchen for a short time before going back to its natural habitat outside.

I have both memories and photos of beautiful sunsets through the branches of the tree and of sitting in the garden watching the sun go down.  Of hearing the leaves rustle in the wind watching the seasons go by.  Of the rebirth of the leaves and buds in spring, the green of summer, the autumnal hues followed by the winter view.  The weather in autumn determines how quickly the dead leaves fall from the tree; in some years the winter view is bare branches or, in others, there is a golden glow throughout winter due to the leaves not falling from the branches.

I have always had a fondness for trees because of many childhood walks where my dad encouraged me to identify different trees by their bark and leaves. I have got a bit rusty on tree identification since then but I still enjoy woodland walks and immersing myself in the beauty of magnificent trees and the wildlife they attract.

15th April 2012

Sadly they did come back for the remaining branch and now we are left with almost no tree at all… Something will have to be done to that part of the garden to regain some privacy!

Unusually I wasn’t looking forward to coming home this evening and when I arrived my worst fears were realised… I wonder if the tree surgeons will be back tomorrow they seem to have missed a branch!! The birds that usually flit and fly around the tree seemed rather confused and were flying around at low level in among the greenery in my garden. I hope I didn’t disturb them too much when I was out taking a few photographs.

There is a small positive note in that I will now be able to see stunning sunsets as I sit at my computer which in recent years had been concealed by branches and foliage. Exchanging one beauty for another…

Here are some before and after shots. The beautiful Oak Tree in the early morning sunshine before it had the first of its branches removed followed by some photographs taken this evening. The weather has changed to suit the occasion. I dread to think what what sight I will come home to after day two of the branch trimming operation…

George Gissing (1857 – 1903)