Growing up in the Evergreen State, I was used to trees in every corner of space available. Even single-family home on a quarter acre might still be home to multiple 50' Douglas firs.
Born and raised in the small town of Itasca, my family moved to a larger home with a larger yard when I was five.
Once upon a time there was a young girl who loved her grandmother's back yard. It was filled with many white pine trees. The one next to the school parking lot somehow beckoned to her.
My wife and I went to visit our kids in their new home in Downers Grove. They had a big yard and quite a few good-sized trees. One tree caught my eye, about 20 feet from the house.
I love trees. I have 37 trees on my half acre lot in Wheaton and I planted 35 of them over the years.
When I was a young girl--until I reached college-age and headed to the Midwest--I lived in Pennsylvania. Penn’s Woods, my mom taught me.
Around 1940, my grandparents owned a small farm, close to Roselle, Illinois. We had a willow tree close to a little creek. I saw my grandpa take a few leaves off the tree and chew on them.
One year, I collected a bag of black walnuts for a project I was going to do in the winter months. My wife and I were going to a dinner party that Saturday with friends from work.
When our grandchildren were between the ages of four and six, we would take them to Wood Dale Lake. I wanted them to learn about nature's playground.
As a participant in a Chicago bike ride for one of the Earth Day celebrations in the late 80's, I received a simple little twelve-inch evergreen sapling.
It was six years ago and my once healthy backyard ash tree had succumbed to the dreaded ash borer disease.
Back in the ‘50s when I was a wee girl, things were so different.
My late husband, Dan, and l loved this tree. It sits in our front yard and was probably planted when the house was built, 1957. It’s the largest magnolia I’ve seen in this area.
My grandma died on a bright December day, right after a thick snowfall. As ready as she was, the living were not.
I grew up in Quincy, IL and when you reach the 4th grade, on Arbor Day, each child is presented with a tree to take home and plant in their family's yard.
In the fall of 1979, I proposed to my wife at Morton Arboretum. It was a beautiful warm fall Day with the trees in full color.
Along her quiet street in Steger, Illinois, Grandma Yushkevich had her own mini farm to feed her eight children. The strawberry patch had its own picket fence to protect her tiny sweet gems.
A lot of women who get diagnosed with breast cancer put on their warrior boots and collect their warrior friends to fight the fight and I honor them for their journeys.
When we lived in Wheaton, just a few blocks from Northside Park, an impressive silver maple graced our front yard.
