“When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Let God speak within you, and your thoughts will grow silent. You are anxious because your path leads away from mother and home. But every step and every day lead you back again to the mother. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all.”

• Herman Hesse

Three things brought me to my love of trees. One was my photography, which helped me to see the world anew. Another was Maria, whose love of nature drew me to see trees in a different way. The third was my dogs, and their love for walking and running in the deep woods. The fourth was my walking every day in the deep forest, where I let God speak to me, and my thoughts grow silent.

In the deep woods, there old trees, some very old, they are each different, their gnarls and bark and veins and limbs speak to me in a different way. I am still just beginning to appreciate their spirituality and their beauty.