Acer Platanoides

This is the scene in the backyard after the winds came through the East Coast last month. The beloved Norway Maple,(much maligned by the ecologists) which had towered over the back woods for years and years crashed to the ground. It was a tree in two parts, creating a deep V we kids used to climb into, or use as a place to store treasures. One year a tire swing was hung from one of the branches, providing endless hours of entertainment for the neighborhood. During the winter birds would take cover in the branches, flitting down to grab some seed from the birdfeeder. In the spring we would put in a tap for sap collection. My brother or I would run out eagerly every afternoon to see how much was in the buckets. One or two years we boiled the sap down to syrup, filling the house with the smell of burning sugar. Now that half the tree is gone, the other half will probably have to go too, as it leans ominously over the house. The new light coming into the woods will allow the smaller trees to grow in time erasing any trace of the huge tree.