Treeburn, originally uploaded by TAR ART RAT.

Samurai Jeff Ra and I woke up and trekked over to climb my favorite tree (aka arch nemesis) in Volunteer park. After several attempts to scale the base We did finally make it to the first branch and then all the way to the the top, jittery with adrenaline and swaying back and forth in the strong-ish wind, but you can get this view nowhere else, folks- seriously, this is THE best view in town: miles and miles of everything- Puget sound, all mountain ranges, water, Mt. Rainier, Bellevue, Lake Washington, etc. etc. Downtown Seattle . As mentioned before (perhaps many times) I have only successfully climbed this tree 7 -maybe 8- times because for the first 14 feet or so there are NO branches -and using the tension yer sinewy tendons you have to dig your fingertips and toes into the grooves in the thick bark. once that is past it is a cake walk 50 feet to the top- ahh... I never manage to avoid treeburn from the worn away parts and rough bark on the way down, and then you have chunks of crusty dry sap in your hair too and maybe a few spiders, but it is a great thing every time no matter what.

This time I left my ring from Morocco on a baby treebranch way up high, I hope it doesn't strangle it in 10 years as the branch grows, but it it is slow enough maybe it will expand along with it (silver is soft- right?) Jeff tied his red bandanna as a wedding present for me with our names on written on it, and there those items will stay at the top of that tree until the elements or other climbers deem that they should come down. Odd...