Ever hear of John Burroughs, a naturalist companion of Teddy Roosevelt who, incidentally, was old enough to be his father? Listen to this quote from his book President Roosevelt as a Nature-Lover and Observer. "Presently we moved on along another path through the woods toward the house. A large, wide-spreading oak attracted my attention - a superb tree. "You see by the branching of that oak," said the President, "that when it grew up this wood was an open field and maybe under the plough; it is only in fields that oaks take that form." I knew it was true, but my mind did not take in the fact when I first saw the tree." I smiled last night when I read this because it was a perfect description of the neglected and forgotten oak pictured above that Jim, Bruce and Mike have cleared around and made so prominent. If you ever want your mind to go to quiet places, read John Burroughs' work. It's so old, that at least a dozen of his short books are free downloads on my Kindle.
