…with a title like that you’d think I was lost in a poem by Tennyson…but I was only looking at a tree in my yard.

I tend to photograph this Red Maple at this time of year… it was created by Anne Spencer, one of our talented Portland artists who passed several years ago. Some months before she passed, I was honored with a phone call from her asking if I’d want to be the next caretaker of it. Being impulsively impish, I replied ‘Is that a trick question?’ In any event, I’ve had the tree for several years now. Especially in fall, when it’s looking so beautiful, I am reminded of our dear friend Anne.

Bonsai is, in so many ways, the art of change: That constant, lovely, haunting dance of loss and addition.

Your tree is looking well, Anne. It’s been the treasure of my yard, a chest of…