As a naturalist, I like to visit places over time. You can see how plants grow, what animals may have come and gone, and what changes people have made to the place. This is a habit I have, that I guess I was born with. I like to garden the same way, putting in small shrubs and bushes so I can watch them grow. I have been watching one red cedar tree for over fifty years, the one that grows on the south west corner of Summer Street and Route 53 in Duxbury. I first took notice of it from a school bus window. Years ago, my bus route took a short trip up what is now Route 53 to Winter Street. We turned left and then left again onto Brookdale Avenue in Kingston to pick up the Nava kids. One day I noticed a snake skin wrapped around the base of the tree. I remember thinking it was a dead snake, wondering why it died wrapped itself around a tree. I didn’t know then that snakes shed their whole skin, and it probably had used the roughness of the tree bark to help remove the skin.

It was unreasonable to think that the snake, or its skin, would have remained around that tree, but since then, every time I pass that intersection, I can’t help but look at that tree. Red cedars grow pretty fast, but this one doesn’t look much different from many years ago. It isn’t very tall or big around even now. However, I may not get to see it get much larger, either. It turns out that intersection is one of the more dangerous ones in Duxbury, and in a year or two; it is going to be changed into a rotary.   The cedar will probably be in the way, and be cut down. If it goes, it will be almost like losing an old friend.

There will be other trees to watch, and people, friends and relatives, but I don’t think I have another 50 years to do it. Folks in my family tend to live very long lives, but I think 115 is pushing it a bit!