Walter

Shortly after we moved into our home, a friend brought over a bunch of trees for us. She’d dug them out of her own yard and wanted to share. One was a silver maple, and I planted it in the front yard to replace a large pine we’d had to cut down the year before.

I named the tree, Walter, because that was her dad’s name. I wanted to show her how I appreciated the gift, and also be able to talk about the tree with my husband. He not only puts up with this behavior, I think he even likes it. At least he knows which tree I’m talking about! Walter grew quickly and provides a beautiful yellow splash in our yard in the fall against the dark pines. His brother, the oak, still nameless, was brought home from a plant sale. One day they will stand over where the pines from Hidden Pine Homestead used to be.