Star Trees

Time: 2308-2335

Date: 13 November 2008

Climate: Very Chilly, Overcast, windy

Location: Star trees, Willamette University campus

I decided to take another late night walk around campus.  I wandered all over past the library, across the quad, through the Japanese garden and some other places ultimately ending up under the star trees.  I sat down and the ground was damp and soft.  I looked up and saw the star made by the trees but what caught my eye first was the sky.  The clouds were moving so fast that I couldn’t keep my eye on a single part of the sky.  The moon is showing through the tree closest to cone chapel, which is diagonally to the left of me.  The star trees are really nice to sit under because there is nobody around me right now and I am alone but I feel safe.  Something about these trees allow me feel comfortable because they are so big and relaxing.  It is something that I can’t really explain, but for some odd reason they are captivating.  I get up and realize that my pants are all wet from the ground and have thin pine type sticks stuck to them and dead leaves.  I pick them off and I look up again.  They sky looks completely different from when I first got here.  I spin around and closed my eyes and I had no idea what direction I was facing when I opened my eyes.  It was such a strange feeling because the star trees look so much alike at the tops.  I began to walk back to my dorm and the grass was much sloppier than the ground under the star trees.  This was surprising to me because the star trees are shaded so I would expect the ground to be wetter but it was not.  As I walked back to my dorm I walked through the Japanese Garden again and down Winter St.  There were no students out and barely any cars on the road.  For some reason campus was particularly dead tonight, and seemed almost empty.  The trees are beginning to become bare and the sidewalks and roads were empty.  But it didn’t feel that way under the star trees.  

http://www.2librarians.com/family/willamette/StarTrees.jpg