The DU Lounge

It was ancient and quite large and very tall. I used to climb up to the top of it and chill up there. We lived a vally and the view from the top was spectacular. When I was in junior high I would get home from school and climb up and read books, typically my English homewwork assignments or just books I was interested in. I'm lucky I didn't kill myself. I manage to find a "safe" branch to sit on up there. Due to, I believe, tge geography of that valley wind would tend to channel through it and we would periodically get these straight line wind events that have become to be known as microbursts. They are like small non cyclonic tornados that had enough energy to snap the tops off of or topple trees and occaisonly rips shingles off of roofs etc.
I've think it was when I was in my 30's I stopped by to visit my parent and one of thosee microburst had damaged the hemlock and some adjacent trees and they were being cut down. It was a sad day. I had a lot od childhood memories in that tree. It was my Zen place.