Feeling a Little Nutty

Today I'm feeling a little nutty. In addition to the white stuff falling from the sky outside my office window, I'm finalizing work on my children's picture book for Milton Hershey School. The book stars an acorn, which, to be exact, is actually a fruit and not a nut.

Before Sunday services at Founders Hall on the MHS campus, I took a stroll with my camera. The campus is rich in botanical gifts, including many oak trees. There are red oaks, like the growing tree in my book, and there are white oaks. (The easiest way to tell the difference is in the leaves. Red oaks have pointed lobes. White oaks have rounded lobes.) With many oaks comes a buffet of acorns, which the squirrels go a bit nutty over. I captured this trio as they scampered and played beneath the boughs of some mighty oaks.

On Monday I was a silent observer. The MHS senior class (2009) planted its memorial tree near the alumni section of campus. Soon, they will be graduates of the school, and off setting roots in other parts of the state and country. Of course, that tree was an oak. It's a powerful symbol.

Milton Hershey once said that to plant a tree is to offer something for those who come after you. I suppose that writing a book is very much like planting a tree. We leave our legacies behind us in our words, our actions, and our deeds.

I'm off to plant my tree. I hope your day is full of opportunities to grow into a mighty oak.