An idea is a seed...

An idea, of course, is a seed. One simple idea showed me a simple path to a complicated country. One piece of paper was the key to foreign kingdoms, and forgotten times. It opened landscapes to me- mountains, deserts, cities- and also timescapes- recent history, ancient archaeology, and geological abysses.

How a map changed my life: In a dusty box, on the back of a bus stop, near the Forestry Department, in Seattle, there is a stack of photocopied maps, free for the taking. Like many universities, Washington is fortunate in its wealth of trees providing shade, majesty, decoration, and history. Unlike most others, it is exceedingly fortunate to have a “Tree Tour”, a biological scavenger hunt, produced by one Professor Brockman (deceased). Thanks to this unassuming piece of paper, I found myself inspired and focused in a direction I never would have anticipated in my younger days as a bookworm. Here’s how:

Brockman numbered 80 trees, mapped them, and placed tags upon them. From the Deodar Cedar to the Yoshino Cherry to the Silk Tree to the Monkey Puzzle to the Cork Oak, I marvelled at meeting these quiet neighbours. Few passers-by even noticed them. Soon, I was enthusiastically naming them to friends, and sharing what I had learnt.

As I learned more, I was exposed to whole disciplines of knowledge entirely new to me: The zoology of the arthropods, the deliciousness of fruit, the geology of fossils, the economics of timber, the aesthetics of presence, the photography of growth, the ropework in treetops, the chemistry of photosynthesis, the relaxation in the shade, and- most surprisingly- the friendships formed by common enthusiasm for plants.

This map had guided me into the real world; it encouraged me to dig in the garden, catch bugs, hike into the mountains, take photographs, spot clouds, study maps of distant landscapes, and of course, climb into the trees. How did this map change my life? It is a gateway through space- I have learned about the Chilean mountains where the Monkey-Puzzles grow, and about the springtime cherry blossoms of Kyoto. It is a window through time- I have cracked open fossils of Metasequoia leaves 50 million years old, and watched the growth of trees only two years old. A decade later, I've worked and climbed into the ancient Deodar Cedars of the Indian Himalaya. The trees I've met provide landmarks in a vast and complicated world.

No matter where I go, there is always a bit of the natural vegetation to keep me interested. No matter how developed the place, green life is there. I have walked along the beach underneath coconut palms, and have sheltered from snowstorms beneath stunted alpine trees. I have delighted in the company of my lover beneath the Silky Oak tree, and visited war memorials beneath the Gum Trees.

Trees form landmarks for people throughout our lives and throughout the world- I was lucky to have that seed of an idea illustrated so clearly with a simple photocopied map.