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Thursday, April 22, 2010

My Town Friday Shoot-out / trees

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I've had a fascination with trees since I was small. When very young, we lived in Cottonwood Arizona where there are some trees but mainly along the river banks. The family had a huge - well it seemed huge to me then - mulberry tree in the front yard.  My father surrounded the base of the mulberry with a sand pile and all (7) of us kids used to play for hours making roads, neighborhoods and houses with rooms filled with cardboard box furniture.  The sand on the ground floor could be changed according to the game played that day, and the upstairs was in the branches of the mulberry tree. I loved to be sent to my room by ‘mother’ or ‘father’ and I would climb high into the branches and sit, or lie out along the branch and look up into the sky. When really being bad, I would climb up onto the tips of the branches and jump onto the roof of the house – My mother would come out in her apron and with the broom and yell for me to ‘get down!’ I had my secret ways down so she couldn’t catch me with her broom when I hit the ground…. But this tree was the start of my love affair with all trees …..


Today Camillo and I live in the Serra do Mar (mountain range of the sea), in a reserve of the Atlantic forest (Mata Atlantica) that encompasses the city of Nova Friburgo and its surrounding metropolitan area.   I have written and shown photos of the trees in our part of the forest both for spring and for the  fall & winter colors many times, so for this week's shoot-out I have tried to find a few new ones for you to enjoy.  


 

Our garden – the area that surrounds the house - is mostly pine trees which are not native to this area. They line the properties and fill the gardens but I have never seen them in the actual forest. There you see banana trees, beautiful puffy clusters of bamboo, deep purple quaresmeira, silver topped Embaúva- preta.   There are also -  bright yellow or pink ipē-da-serra, and the common Embaúva soaring tall, straight, elegantly above the forest.


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And the hundreds of other unidentifiable but beautiful trees none the less. They grow in the same space or out in the wide open, adding color and texture for me to see everyday.



24 comments:

  1. Great subject for this tiem of year, beautiful trees, Ginger.

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  2. I can picture your childhood mulberry tree perfectly. And now you live in the Mata Atlantica! John and I were there in 1996 and it was so beautiful. Your photos are gorgeous. I especially love the green leaves and also the curled brown leaves.

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  3. Yes Ginger you have shown us some beautiful trees. All that nice warm weather makes for a lot of different trees than we have here. Great job.
    QMM

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  4. Ginger, great idea for Earth Day. Your shots are terrific.

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  5. Beautiful collection of the trees, I love every single photo.

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  6. Ginger, I was so looking forward to your post. And you sure didn't disappoint! My son has commented on the beautiful flowers and trees in Brazil but he doesn't take photos of them. My favourite is the third shot in the first set of three. That is a wonderful photo! Thank you.

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  7. Wow! Gorgeous, luxurious trees!

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  8. Some of those leaves are huge! Ours never get that big.

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  9. I loved your story of the mulberry tree of your childhood. I wish I had such a tree.

    The lush beauty of the trees in your new home are just amazing.

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  10. I love this post! I love that you know the names of some of the trees -- thank you! The silver-topped are my absolute favorite to see peeking over the top of the other stuff whenever we drive through the Mata Atlantica! I am so glad to know the name now.

    LOVE the photo of the curly brown leaf. Truly fantastic!! And of course the 1st photo - that sort of scene always takes my breath away. You captured it well!

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  11. the Reader I have a two volume set of
    Brazilian Trees (in English). some of it photos are not useful to ID the trees but I have found some of our local ones. I bought them at the book store in Jardim Batonico Rio. if you get that way we can meet and take the boys through for a walk and buy more books.
    hugs to you....

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  12. Nice shots! Its cool to see trees I've never seen before! Great job

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  13. Love that childhood memory Ginger.

    Lovely shots of the trees too.

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  14. Oh my gosh, Ginger! What a vista you gaze upon! Every one of your photos are beautiful.
    I planted two mulberry trees a couple of years ago in the backyard. They're still pretty little, but beautiful, all the same.

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  15. First off, thanks for this week's theme. Thanks too for sharing your childhood memories. I remembered my childhood memories too. I even had a photo up the star apple tree.

    Btw, i posted a sugar apple fruit for you. Yes it bears fruits but the fruits are so many seeds but it sweet. It bears fruit during rainy season. It is look like that during summer no leaves left.

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  16. That photo our back of your place is so breath taking!

    Are you back did Camillo make you a fabulous dinner and open you a good bottle of wine? Cheers!

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  17. CheE - Camillo hasn't cooked since I've been home, but he did serve a great wine. this weekend we go back to Rio for a cheese and wine tasting with his kids. he will buy all the cheese and wine, does that constitute 'cooking'

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  18. Brazil, home of the biggest rain forest.

    The air must be fresher here than anywhere else.

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  19. I remember climbing to the tippy top of a big tree when I was young. no fear back then!! love the first image, awesome!!

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  20. I love the exotic plants in trees in your part of the world and you do such a great job of telling us all about it all. Have a great week Ginger - Elaine

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  21. How beautiful! Your photos and explanations of the trees of Brasil remind me of driving through the rainforest in Bolivia and staring down at the canopy of trees, wondering how many thousands of species there were in those leaves. I hope you go on many walks to enjoy them!

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  22. Fascinating tree study, GingerV. You always get a A+ on your photo shoots, at least in my book.

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  23. Hey girl your emails are bouncing back? Not going through, I left you a message on FSO-

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