trees glorious trees

my great-aunt nettie died last weekend. she was in her 90's and had suffered from alzheimer's for a short while. she died peacefully in her sleep. she was a strong and powerful (forceful?) woman who was much ahead of her time when it came to independence. the stories my mom and my aunts and uncles tell of her are incredible.

i found out earlier this week that my aunt diane wanted to honor nettie by planting a tree. all in favor said "aye" and the motion was passed. the tree (a kwanzan cherry tree - same as the ones in washington DC) was purchased and then it was decided that it would be best to plant it in our yard. how this decision was made eludes me, but it's beside the point. i found out wednesday that we were having a tree-planting ceremony at our house on saturday. haha.

a small crowd of folks came over to plant the tree, take some pictures, write short memories of nettie on playing cards (her favorite pasttime), hang them on the tree, then go inside and talk and eat the night away. it was a good time.

one highlight of the night was sitting on the front porch with my uncle glen. we talked about a lot of things while we were out there. at some point glen looked at me and asked seriously:

"scott, did you hear that cincinnati is building a new zoo?"

"no," i said. "i've not heard anything about that."

"yeah, they're putting a fence up around kentucky."

and for the next five minutes, glen and i sat on the porch laughing our heads off.

well, the tree is really a nice tree. lise and i are looking forward to seeing it grow and getting to see these gorgeous double blossoms it's supposed to have in the spring!

by the way: the memories i have most of aunt nettie are when she and her husband, my uncle tony (from whom i got my middle name), would come into town in their green camper. i remember several times them driving from LA to cincinnati and staying with my grandma. all the stories and the card-playing and the cartoon characters she used to knit into signs for the back window of the camper - good memories.