There is just as much beauty visible to us in the landscape as we are prepared to appreciate, not a grain more.

-Henry David Thoreau

A Year in the Life    Let the movie download, go get a cup of tea, put on your headphones, slide off your shoes . . . relax.

A Year in the Life of One Bud The Poem In my yard are many buds, just one so famed as you! I love to watch your palette change your brilliant spring debut, your summer rains, your autumn hue, I dream of every cell, and even when the winter comes, I never bid farewell. It gives me such a deep reward to know you through and through, because I see in you the Earth recycled and renewed.
Julie Walton Shaver Earth Day, 2006	I am fascinated by the life coming from this one bud.

A Year in the Life    Want more? If you liked the movie, the individual shots are below, plus many that I had to edit from the movie so it would fit the music. Click on a picture to enlarge it.

April 9, 2005	April 11	April 12	April 13	April 14

April 15	April 16	April 17	April 18 - 9 a.m.	April 18 - 3 p.m.

April 19	April 19	Actual width = 1.125"	April 20 - serious breeze	April 21

April 22 - petals falling	April 23	April 24	April 25	April 26

April 27	Twig length = 2.5"	April 29	From the other side	April 30

May 1	Midblossom = pear nut	May 2	Somebody ate a leaf	May 4

May 5	Pear nut has been nibbled	May 6 - Aha! It's YOU!	Aug. 22 - Summer's end	Nov. 10 - fall begins

Nov. 14	Nov. 29 - early freeze	Usually red, not yellow	Dec. 4 - winter's here	Feb. 16, 2006 - hello bud

March 30	Blooming 2 weeks earlier	April 1	April 2	April 3

April 7	April 8 - 3:30 a.m.	12:30 p.m. - Ahh, rain.	April 9	April 12

April 19	Red maple backdrop	Can you find our bud?

Leaf margins are wavy, giving this tree serious reason to flutter in a breeze, a sound treat in spring, summer and fall.	January 2005: This tree is thick even in winter.

May 2004: Mature pear nut.

April 2004: The Aristocrat pear blossoms in the shelter of a neighbor's 100-foot red maple, an American flag in the sky.

April 2006: Just thought I'd try that shot again, with a different exposure, in setting sunlight, and a different depth of field. Experimenting teaches me about my camera, and shows me the world in ways I never before could see.

For Julie's detailed comments, see the Aristocrat Pear fact pages See the Aristocrat Pear growth chart Read the latest Tree Grower's Diary blog entry