Tri-Color Beech Tree ~ Dud to WOW

Driving through Dixon, IL 

we would always see this very lovely tree,

outside of a huge stately home.

My husband said it was a Tri-Color Beech tree.

Very slow growing and very expensive.

Here are a set of 3 trees for an example.

SO pretty.

             

  When the neighboring bank wanted to expand operations, 

they bought the house, 

tore the house down, and left the tree. 

(SMILE)

Now, my husband loves trees.

If you have seen our back yard, (the extra lot)

 it is loaded with trees.

Like, hoarding like. 

Like, I mean it!  

Two layers deep on the west side.

He thinks he has several acres back here.

(We live just barely out of city limits.)

What is he thinking?

Can you imagine mowing this?

There is absolutely no good pattern here.


and now I worry about ticks.

However, we do have some good looking trees.

This is a beautiful Colorado Blue Spruce.   

We shy away from these though.

  

Cytospora ~ canker disease common to blue spruce ~

took our three mature trees.

Lesson Learned:  Colorado Blue Spruce do better in Colorado.

That is why they call them Colorado Blue Spruce.

You get several drought summers in a row,

with very little moisture, extremely dry and hot,

  and these trees just can't take it.

Loved how they framed our daylillies ~ 

but they are gone now.

:(

  

Here is a Concolor.  We have many of these

in blue and green ~ they are great for our climate.

The needles are so soft

(wonderful if you are mowing in shorts.)

So after all of this, we decided to splurge.

Oh, did I forget to tell you?

My husband is also very frugal (public name)


 (or cheap as I call him)

so splurging is a very big deal.

Meet OUR Tri-Color Beech Tree.

Planted about four years ago in the front of our house.

 We were beginning to think we had a dud.

After all, it seemed to always bud out with 

brown, crusty leaves.

BUT, this year ~ WOW

Beautiful pink leaves!  

Our neighbors two houses down asked,

"when did you get the new tree?"

I truly believe it was the cooler spring and all the rain that 


made a  huge difference in turning our tri-color beech from a 


dud to WOW.

Norma Jeane ~ 85 Years Old b. 6/1/26

Norma Jeane, aka Marilyn Monroe,

would have been 85 years old June 1.

A life cut short,

at such a young age of 36.

I was almost 5

but I remember her death

being an "event".

My own mother was just 43.

I remember asking my mom, 

"who is Marilyn Monroe?"

 I don't remember her answer.

As I have learned more about "Norma Jeane's" early life, 

and of her mother,

her mother's mental illnesses,

and the many foster homes she lived in,

I am amazed she became the woman she became.

She dreamed of a better life when she was young,

and she did what she had to do to cope

with everyday LIFE. 

 Today, someone at work asked me why I like her, 

as he turned his nose up in disdain.

I'm not quite sure.

~

I can't say I have watched an entire film 

with her in it,

can't remember anything she sang except

for the famous Happy Birthday

to JFK.

(Apparently my mom was not a big fan.)

I'm not sure why I like her.

I just know that she made something of herself,

in spite of her unhappy and unstable childhood.

Her image was then, and remains

Sexy and glamorous 

She was not model thin,

she had curves,

and seemed to be a natural beauty

(yes, I know her blonde hair was not natural).

Photoshop wasn't around back then.

Airbrushing hadn't been invented yet.

She may have had plastic surgery.

I don't know.

She just seemed to be a nice person

doing the best she could

with what she knew.

She seemed like she was comfortable 

in her own skin.

The pressures for girls these days

has to be unbearable.

Young girls really need strong parents

to love them,

support them,

build their self esteem,
(you know someone is waiting
in the wings to tear them down)

and keep them on the right track.

I think Norma Jeane would agree.

Ahhh, to go back to simpler times

when peer pressures,

magazines,

television,

didn't make it all so difficult.

It all makes me grateful for 

my parents

and family life,

and I will repeat what I have always said,

I had the BEST childhood.

I salute you today

Norma Jeane.