#chouchun

[thebotanicalarcade]

[stedesbonnets]

only 20 minutes to sleep, but you dream of some epiphany

The busy streets of the center of the town they have made their haven in is no strange sight, not anymore. Merchants cry out their wares from all sides, behind colorful stalls, shaded from the harsh sun at the height of day. A cornucopia of smells engulfs Ed, from cooks and bakers handing out their goods to a crowd so dense he can't see past it. When he looks up, the sight of the chouchun, ailanthus altissima, the tree of heaven, sparing them from the sun's wrath takes his breath away, still. Everything is wonderfully contrasted from the sights of his old life. This one is---peaceful. Calm.

Stede stares with sparkling eyes at the fabric merchant showing a simple robe to a lady, yet the waistline was painted with waves, in precise strokes of white and indigo. It was what Stede loved the most, when they first arrived. The clothes, no longer tight layers upon layers, but long, warm fabrics that could be made into a work of art. If Ed had his riches about him, he would have bought Stede a robe that wouldn't shame the emperor.

Spotting that a place has cleared in front of their favorite dumplings stand, Ed grabs Stede's hand and pushes him towards it. The fabric merchant won't disappear.

They return home with their stomaches full and soothed, hand in hand. Their cabin is just at the outskirts of town, on a small hill that's sprouting with grass and an occasional flower this time of year. It happens to overlook the ocean; the reason was to ease their longing to the sea. The real reason was, the one they won't admit out loud, was safety.

Stede steps ahead of him, their joined arms stretching between them like an unbreakable bond. He let his hair grow a tad longer, and now it frames his face like a golden halo with the help of the sun as he smiles back at Ed. He always does, whenever they return home. He tugs on his hand, and they run the remaining slope up the hill laughing.

Ed lands against the mattress, Stede draped over him, the kiss made sweet when Stede's tongue brushes against his, sipping from his mouth. Ed buries his hand in the back of Stede's head, fingers sinking into his curls as Stede leaves him mouth and instead peppers kisses down the colum on his throat. He opens Ed's shirt button by button with every kiss, until he can caress the sides of his body, and lower his head to press heated kisses to his chest. Underneath him, Ed heaves, beholding Stede through the low of his eyelashes, rising to meet each fervent kiss. He cradles Stede's face before he is able to press another, and draws him towards his face. Their lips---

Ed jumps awake, the brightness of the dream, the light of their home, flashing before his eyes before dissipating into the darkness of the cabin, as if he stared at the sun for too long. The usual sight of the cabin greets him, empty, nothing but the bottles he drained or smashed against the wooden wall. Tears pool in his eyes, unbidden, at the lack of warmth, the lack of golden light, the lack of Stede, no longer by his side.

Ed blinks, powerless, tired, and the tears wash over his face in an even stream. He shudders on the small bad, foreign to him, taken not by right, and dares to wrap himself further into the fuchsia colored robe. The cold seeps into his bones, making every patch of skin prickle, and Ed lowers his head into his knees, pressed into his chest, and sobs at the loss of the life they could'vd had together.

[elsewhereuniversity]

Forestry Majors*

By the time they graduate, forestry majors know all the trees, their properties and uses, where they can be found. They know the oldest and wisest trees on campus. They know which ones can walk and which ones harbor dark, rotten hearts.  Each graduating class plants a new tree and puts many blessings in the soil around its roots. Legend has it that as long as the tree lives, at least one member of that graduating class will also. No one has done a study to verify this claim.

Forestry majors know how the paths in the woods can shift. Compass and Pacing is a required course, and Foresters learn to adjust their stride to exactly a meter so they can always measure distances. When compasses fail (and they always do, at one point or another), they have to be able to navigate the woods without the help of iron.

Silviculture is a class reserved for upper level students, and is by application only. Students are screened for their abilities in diplomacy and the depth of their knowledge of trees. They must be courageous as well, to face the beings that inhabit the forest.  They are taught to be careful with words and to avoid tricks of the mind. The exams are rigorous and long. Failing the class is sometimes a relief – these students are excused from missions into the very heart the wild woods.

Many hours of studying are spent learning the true names of the trees, not the Latin ones that Linnaeus developed, but the old names that the trees will listen to. The trees hide their real names almost as well as humans do. Tree of Heaven, Ailanthus, or Chouchun are all the same tree, but none of those is the tree’s true name.

The professors in intro class are careful to explain the proper way to determine if a dryad inhabits a particular tree. The university owns a woodlot where it farms its own trees, so these trees should be safe, but controlling the Others is impossible and they can’t be kept out entirely. Of course, there’s always a freshman who doesn’t listen and is too in love with their chainsaw. The results are usually  … not pretty. If the rest of the crew is lucky, the unfortunate one is just gone. If not, if something is left, then the professors and upper level students have to be called in to deal with the ritual to destroy the chainsaw. No one wants to use a chainsaw that has a taste for human blood.

Another important first year class is firefighting. Fire is a tool of humans, but the enemy of the trees. Forestry majors are expected to be on hand to deal with any wildfire no matter whether day or night, or whether they have exams or papers due.

Tree hugging doesn’t necessarily mean environmental activism to foresters – it means literally hugging trees. The hugging goes both ways – humans seek comfort, peace, and strength from the trees, but they also encourage the trees to grow tall and strong, to endure, to resist whatever danger the forest is facing.

Forestry is a technical field though, and forestry majors also take many engineering courses. The field attracts people with an affinity with either the science end or the magic end. Some forestry majors have both. When you spend most of your time in the woods, it’s hard to avoid the knowledge of magic. No matter how scientifically inclined they may start out, most foresters end up talking to the trees.

Other students (those who have classes indoors in temperature controlled buildings) are wary of the forestry majors – with most of their classes outside, the foresters dress rough, steel-toed boots and layers of flannel, the men with beards, the women with broken nails. They always carry what appear to be weapons – fire rakes, axes, cant hooks, pikes, and chainsaws. Some students who understand the true danger of the school know better, know that the foresters aren’t the worst thing on campus.

The holy grail of forestry is the unending battle to restore the American Chestnut. The chestnut was a beautiful and durable tree, whose wood would never rot. But the Chestnut Blight came and destroyed them all, killing the magic of the chestnut trees. New trees would sprout, but as soon as they reached adolescence, the Blight would attack and the tree would die. Most foresters try to work through science, crossbreeding the American tree with exotic ones in hopes of finding a strain that can resist the Blight. However, all know that the Blight is a magical disease that science ultimately cannot solve. Every American forester longs to restore the chestnut tree, but the price for that would be very high indeed.

Forestry may know too much about trees and may use trees for their own purposes, but they also protect and nurture the forest.  Therefore they are tolerated.

*Many forestry degrees have the words and Wildlife added to the diploma. But Wildlife is an entirely different topic that would require a separate post.

[x]

[fnfpicks]

Today's #FnFPicks #PlantOfTheDay is #TreeOfHeaven (#AilanthusAltissima) [aka #Ailanthus, #VarnishTree, #Chouchun] #DidYouKnow It is a dioecious plant. Male trees produce three to four times as many flowers as the females, making the male flowers more noticeable. ORGANISM CLASSIFICATION: Kingdom: Plantae Clade: Tracheophytes Clade: Angiosperms Clade: Eudicots Clade: Rosids Order: Sapindales Family: Simaroubaceae Genus: Ailanthus Species: A. altissima Please consider sharing the video with someone who'd love these #FunFacts If you want to Suggest Animals for our videos (which is recommended), or have any complaints, please feel free to hit us anywhere over the #FnFPicks Community: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FnFPicks Twitter: https://twitter.com/FnFPicks Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/FnFPicks And don't forget to Subscribe...:-) #StayHome #WithMe #PickOfTheDay #Plant Tree #Flora

[derrijosephlewis]

KURO MATSU

This term I explored electronic accompaniment to live instruments; the result was a hybrid piece for two Bb cornets and a tape track, inspired by a japanese tree called KURO MATSU, similar to a pine tree.

Take a listen here:

Inspired by ancient stories, the Etemenanki tower (also known as Babel) is a collection of cultures so tall that thousands of different languages can be heard simultaneously. CHOUCHUN (tree of heaven) uses live input from two radio stations to create a patchwork of voices and music.

The piece uses live inputs into cycling 74’s MAX, that manipulate the sound using data from the live time and date — every performance of the piece will be unique because of the changing set of variables that instruct the way the program interprets the sounds.

[ahaikuaday]

— — Tree-of-Heaven

— sends                                       for the sky              clouds                      spinning                      of helicopter seeds

[derrijosephlewis]

RWCMD #atmospheres18

I had the privilege of being a part of the annual ATMOSPHERES festival of contemporary music at the RWCMD, featuring world premieres of graduating composers' music and a special concert of music from Welsh television dramas HINTERLAND/Y GWYLL and CRAITH/HIDDEN.

I enjoyed playing second violin for Connor Mclean's outstanding work, STILL AND STILL MOVING for chamber orchestra.

My work, CHOU_CHUN (tree of heaven), was play throughout the weekend in the foyer. Take a listen here: 

CHOUCHUN (tree of heaven) uses live input from two radio stations to create a patchwork of voices and music. Inspired by ancient stories, the etemenanki tower (also known as Babel) is a collection of cultures so tall that thousands of different languages can be heard simultaneously.

The piece uses live inputs into MAX msp, that manipulate the sound using data from the live time and date - every recording of the piece will be unique because of the changing set of variables that instruct the way the program interprets the sounds.