If you travel the back road to State College, from Altoona, on route 45, you will see my favorite tree.  It's located between Pennsylvania Furnace and Pine Grove Mills and sits off on the right hand side of the road a couple hundred yards out in a field.  There's a turn off, to the left, at this spot, where there is a big white house on the corner.  That turn off will put you on Whitehall Road.

I've noticed this beautiful tree for years, and it's lonely solitude is an incredible sight.  I have driven passed it thousands of times, but never got out of my vehicle to take a closer look.  At the State College Arts Fest, a guy is selling four photos together of this tree in all four seasons.  It's a great piece of photography, and if anyone wants to get me a Christmas gift, it's only $500. ( And, his art gallery is located behind The Tavern on Collge Avenue, on Calder Way. )

Each time I see this majestic tower of bark and leaves, I think of the classic children's book, THE GIVING TREE by Shel Silverstein.  In passing the tree, I think of grabbing my paints and colors and running out into the pasture and having a 'field day' of sketches and renderings.  Any poets out there?  You need some inspiration?  Go to this spot, and if you can ignore the traffic sounds, this tree can fill you with serenity, tranquility , a touch of loneliness, and imagination.

Of course, the poem that pops into my head when I see my favorite Tree, is the earliest tree poem I can recall from grade school. Did you know it was written by a descendant of the movie star Val Kilmer.

       TREES

          by: Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

THINK that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

 

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

 

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

 

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

 

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.