California Oak Trees: What is There to Say?

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There are things in life that are difficult to convey in words. Some things that are hard to describe are simple yet also profound. The other day, CBS Sunday Morning featured an unexpected subject, which I think fits this description: Oak trees in California.

Oak trees are ubiquitous in many parts of California (as well as other places, like Live Oak trees in Texas). Oak trees are a source of acorns for food, habitat for birds and other animals, they can make great shade trees, they provide wood for fuel and cooking flavorful barbecue, and much more.

They are also a subtle source of inspiration even when you do not consciously know they are inspiring. In the past few years I have become more aware of oak trees. And this awareness is difficult to put into words. They are no longer just a tree, but I see them as an integral part of the environment that I didn’t used to notice.

They are also a source of endless artistic contemplation and creation. The oaks of California have shown up in photographs of California (and other places) and paintings of California Impressionist artists like Franz Bischoff, Edgar Payne, William Wendt and others.

Additionally, in terms of folklore, oak trees high up on the crests of hills in the Central Coast may be the “Dark Watchers” that you see in certain hours and seasons when the light is just right.

Yet, like so much of life, it isn’t about explaining or intellectualizing or categorizing the oaks. Like the CBS segment above, you just experience it and take it in. The oaks have been around in the California landscape for thousands of years. They are an everyday part of life, whether one notices them or not. But they are always there and ready to be seen and considered.

The Great, Ancient, Timeless Dilemma: A Long and Comfortable Life, or Glory?

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The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Combattimento per cadavere di Patroclo" Sasso, Giovanni Antonio (Engraver) New York Public Library Digital Collections.

There is a theme that comes up in history, literature and life repeatedly. Should one aim for a long, productive and comfortable life, or a spectacular, potentially short and tragic yet memorable one? Arguably, both can have deep meaning and history is filled with those who choose one or the other path.

When I was listening to the audiobook and reading along with the Samuel Butler translation of The Iliad by Homer, this dilemma for Achilles, was relatively clearly presented in Book IX:

“My mother Thetis tells me that there are two ways in which I may meet my end. If I stay here and fight, I shall not return alive, but my name will live forever: whereas if I go home, my name will die, but it will be long ere death shall take me.”

In other words, Achilles could gain fame as long as humans were around to write books and tell tales about the deeds of those who heroically fought on the battlefield of Troy, even if they died at 20 or 30 or 40 years old, never living to a ripe old age.

Or, Achilles could leave the storm of war and go back home and potentially live a long life to even one hundred years old and do many things during that time. But then, upon death be almost, in historical terms, immediately and promptly forgotten.

Over the course of centuries, many have had to make this decision. The warriors of The Iliad faced this decision, as did those Spartans at Thermopylae fighting against Persia, as did the doomed defenders of The Alamo, in Texas, in March 1836.

Those brave enough to storm the beaches on D-Day would also certainly have faced this dilemma; and really, pretty much anyone who has been brave enough to put on a uniform and serve their country has had to confront, usually in the earlier years of life, that they are not guaranteed to go back home. It is one of the greatest dilemmas of the human condition.

Dawn at the Alamo, Henry Arthur McArdle, oil on canvas, 1905. Capitol Historical Artifact Collection, State Preservation Board

The Fall of the Alamo or Crockett's Last Stand, by Robert Jenkins Onderdonk (1903). The Texas Governor's Mansion Collections, Austin, Texas.

Along Maine beach: A Reflection on a Randomly Found Image

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While exploring the database of the Digital Commonwealth, Massachusetts Collections Online, I came across a 35mm slide from the Edmund L. Mitchell Collection. It was captured (according to the database) in September 1959.

Mitchell, Edmund L. "Along Maine beach." Photograph. September 1959. Digital Commonwealth, https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/tq57rd06p

I really enjoy old images. But I especially like old images that have an artistic quality, regardless of whether the creator of the image aspired to create an artistically meaningful image or not.

And when the medium, (such as black and white images, due to necessity because color photography didn’t exist; or 35mm film because it was the film of choice by necessity, not an artistic choice, or the old slides from the 1950-1980s that are so warm after years of sitting around in storage) enhances the experience, it is an added layer of interest for me.

The image above is entitled “Along Maine beach” (a relatively undescriptive title, all things considered). Let us examine the image:

There are nine, dark, cold Atlantic Ocean seawater-washed wooden poles, pointed nearly straight up, all save one, out of the water. The first three wooden poles (from left to right) are nearly equal in height. Poles four and five quickly shorten to almost the waterline. Then, pole six is notably diagonal, seemingly falling over towards closer to the shore and touching the top (though it may be an optical illusion) of pole seven.

Pole seven and the final two seem a bit closer to land then previous six and the last pole is short and almost at water line.

The body of water the nine wooden poles are in, as portrayed in the image, is a rich mix of textures of calm water movement. The colors of the water is a mix of warm blues, greens with white and black adding to the complexity of the water coloring.

Then, a creamy white sand beach juts out above the water inlet in the bottom half of the image, with some people distantly visible across the small beach, enjoying a September day on the ocean.

Lighter colored blue and green water, more active ocean waves, with white tops, are sweeping in towards the sandy beach vigorously.

Finally, even lighter blue sky tops the image.

For me, the image caught my eye the moment I saw it. I won’t over-intellectualize. I just like the image. It is artistically intriguing and it made me happy to look at it and imagine what it would have been like to be there that day.

The Upper Peninsula, Michigan

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There are so many intriguing places in North America. It is a continent blessed with a myriad of geographical wonders.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "Pictured Rocks, Lake Superior, Michigan" New York Public Library Digital Collections. From Circa 1907 - 1908. Image ID: 69701

As such, in my opinion, many unique and special places get thoroughly overlooked. I myself had a phase, years ago, when the unique Northwoods of Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan captured my attention. Eventually, for whatever reason, this interest faded for many years.

Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. "Map of the northern peninsula of Michigan: showing the several districts surveyed and by whom, and on which geological and topographical reports have been made, and returned to the Sur. Genl. of Public Lands N.W. of the Ohio" New York Public Library Digital Collections. From Circa 1850 - 1859 (Questionable). Image ID: 57564746

Recently, in the past few years, I have rediscovered my interest in this area of North America. There is the mighty Lake Superior, the great old growth forests, smaller regional lakes and ponds, rivers, waterfalls, quiet streams, large hills and small mountains. All teaming with wildlife, fish, native trees, plants and flowers.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "Pictured Rocks, Lake Superior, Michigan" New York Public Library Digital Collections. From Circa 1907 - 1908. Image ID: 69702

The ancient rocks and cliffs are there along the shores of Lake Superior and the rock formations are mixed into the forests around it, too. Ancient copper deposits seem to rise up in several places in the broader region, offering forth to humanity a metallic prize, less valuable than silver in monetary terms, yet an indispensable ingredient for humankind nonetheless (copper is very useful, and some of the Great Lakes copper could simply be collected and hammered into useful items).

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "Copper for Shipment, Houghton, Mich." New York Public Library Digital Collections. From Circa 1898 - 1931. Image ID: 68598

And the surprisingly recent (in geologic time) effects of glaciers from 10-30,000+ years ago, during the “Ice Age” still leave an unmistakable mark on the Upper Peninsula landscape as well. I’m interested in this area again like so many years ago. I hope to go and see it in the not so distant future.

Beginnings

Fishing in Spring, the Pont de Clichy (Asnières) (1887) Vincent van Gogh. The Art Institute of Chicago. Gift of Charles Deering McCormick, Brooks McCormick, and Roger McCormick.

I have been meaning to start writing about various topics for some time now. Recently, the time began to feel right to begin. I am getting started without thinking too much of how the content, format and style will unfold over time. Best to just get started and make adjustments along the way.