Frame within a frame

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To sit on a verandah is to sit in a frame.

This verandah has yet another a frame outside it.

Over a period of 50 years the house owner trained the magnolia to grow its branches to embrace the verandah.

Magnolias are obliging this way; you just need plenty of space underfoot to accommodate their roots.

Sitting there, looking out to sea, you feel you are sitting in a frame within a frame.

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Tree socialization and cat chat

I heard pohutukawas from the island don’t grow well here on the mainland and the mainland trees don’t grow on the island. Same tree, different subspecies someone said.

Well there are Smiths and there are Joneses, aren’t there now. And they don’t talk to each other. Couldn’t have that. They are different.

That your cat?

Cat? Oh yes. I belong to him. At least he thinks he owns me.

I heard cats can communicate. Does he talk you?

Oh yes. Blinks a lot.

And I heard cats have feelings.

I’ll say. He gets annoyed, gets moody, gets sulky. Then he purrs which means he is happy or is going to sleep. And then I’ll say something and he’ll tell me it’s a lot of nonsense. Very cynical about what I say.

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Fly and cut down a tree

Here’s a way you can fly without feeling guilty about flying.

Guilty about flying?

Don’t you feel guilty about taking a flight?

Why?

The effect flying has on global warming.

Ah, a bit. Yes. I don’t fly when I don’t have to.

You really need to attend that conference in Ho Chi Minh?

You think I should attend by videoconference? Like last year? Look.

You’re always saying that. “Look.”

OK. Well, listen. Could it be just another fad? This tree hugging thing? Certainly it is devastating to the planet to lose its rainforests and the biodiversity that these shelter, but just saying if you take a flight, plant a tree?

Only put you back ten quid.

There’s man of science, Govindasamy Bala, who argues that planting trees in certain temperate areas, like Wales, would accelerate global warming, while cutting down trees in certain areas could help reduce it.

Hmm, knotty problem.
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