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RE-flower 43

My property was built in 1870 for a district judge… that is more than 150 years ago. And along with the property, a garden was established, which from the very beginning was conceived on a grand scale. The plot covers 10,000 square meters and is surrounded by large trees, the oldest of which probably date all the way back to the construction of the property.Mainly beech, but also oak and chestnut… there are 70 old trees… plus many younger ones that are probably self-seeded. In the middle of it all stands a large copper beech, whose circumference measures more than five meters.

When I sit on the balcony facing the garden with my coffee, I feel like a youthful humility. As a human being, I am retired… a state pensioner, but compared to the oldest of the trees my age is nothing… perhaps I am only half as old… here I am young… in my garden I am young 🙂

Now it is winter, and the trees stand bare… but imagine how many leaves lie beneath the snow. And the snow will melt, the trees will bud, and before too long the trees will once again carry light-green leaves that indicate it is spring.

I am no district judge… only a retired artist who, out of necessity, has had to earn a living as a programming instructor.

But my thoughts have not gone into retirement… nor has my desire to express myself in images. Images that speak for themselves… but where a few words may help facilitate communication.

The tree’s leaf is my point of departure for this series. And it is not the first time I have thematized the tree leaf: RE-flower 41, RE-flower 36, and several other series.

Beyond sustaining the tree itself, the leaf also produces the oxygen that is essential to my life—yours—and to much other life.