Until a few days ago this magnificent cedar was completely hemmed in by thickets and dense chokecherry shrubs. So I decided to set it free ......... liberate it from all the pushing and shoving of rival bushes and trees going on around it. Moreover , discovering a cedar growing wild in this neck of the woods is tantamount to finding the proverbial chicken's gold tooth. I hope to create a wee nook here..... endowed with loveseat and small table where Fluff can while away her afternoons in the shade of our cedar...... blogging wirelessly to her heart's content!!
Speaking of cedars reminds me of an anecdote related to my survey on Montagnais language placenames I carried out back in 1978-79. I was questioning a committee of elders on the Lower North Shore of the Saint Lawrence River.... literally out in the Gulf ..... and when I pointed to an offshore island , they all answered in unison " Mastshihkw Ministukw "..... or Cedar Island. This caught my attention immediately since the northern limits of cedars for the province of Quebec are situated roughly 300 miles south of that territory. The following day I accompanied four younger men out to the island on a seal hunt and saw the huge tree for myself............ maybe 70 feet high and some 18 inches in diameter. A plausable explanation could lie in the fact that ice floes and currents from the interior of the continent flow right by this island and might have borne the acorn which gave birth to this beauty.
As I was beginning the task of clearing away the underbrush ... Fluff showed up with the camera and snapped the above pic once again congratulating me on my choice of colour when buying my new chainsaw........ she was satisfied but added that the photo would have looked much better had I wore matching green cap and workgloves !!
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