Photos: Scenes at Stanford

Photos: Scenes at Stanford

Photographs on Stanford Campus
September 16-26, 2010

By Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com

Preface: While I've taken lots of photos of trees on hikes this summer (Nature Walks 2010), a chance meeting with Peter Robinson on September 23 made me more conscious on the sacredness of trees. Peter Robinson is a NASA Computer Scientist at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. We were in the Foothill College Poetry Workshop with Professor Dick Maxwell (1989-1994). He build a web site www.paloaltotreewatch.com (August 2010) in protest of old oaks to be cut down at Mitchell Park due to the new library being built there. When we met, he told me that Palo Alto City Hall arborists were cutting down the oaks that day, and wanted me to accompany him to witness this heinous deed. I didn't go but decided to have a half hour satsang with him instead of rushing to catch the Stanford C-Line Shuttle Bus. I told him about Eucalyptus nuts gathered on Galvez Street & Tree symbols in my "Golden Bough" poem. Afterwards I wrote two haikus: (1) "Trees are spiritual beings / nourishing our well being / through the air we breathe." (2) "Trees of Knowledge and Life / symbolize duality & unity— / Our Inner Tree transcends both." Just recalled that two years ago, I went on a "Poetry and the Mighty Oaks" hike at Pulgas Ridge (9-25-2008). Three days later, I wrote haikus on the Stanford Cubberley Oak (9-28-2008). Then the next day, I recorded the tallest tree on our block being chopped down— Mountain View Redwood (9-29-2008). After my meeting with Peter Robinson, I've become even more appreciative of the trees around me. I'm sharing some photos of the trees at Stanford which I pass by every day— how beautiful they are!