Tree climbing

One of my grandsons hit a big milestone a while back when he figured out how to climb a tree near his house.  He was justifiably proud of this accomplishment.  Tree climbing opens up a whole new world.  Those extra few feet give you such an expanded view and make you feel powerful.

One of our houses when I was growing up had apple trees.  Both trees were good for climbing but one actually had some semi comfortable places to sit as well.  A book, unlimited golden delicious apples and a tree to sit in make for a great afternoon.  Also, it was far enough away from the house that I didn't have to listen to badly played piano pieces from my mom's students all afternoon.

We had another tree in that yard that I loved to climb until the day I fell down it.  It was a beautiful, tall pine tree with branches spaced perfectly for climbing up quite a ways.  Those same branches were also spaced perfectly to catch me a dozen or more times on the way down, scraping up the insides of my arms all the way to the bottom.