Pine Trees, Fir trees, Old Happy New Year and more ...

Last December I only wrote two posts and, because of several events happening here, such as health issues, therapy, surgery, chemotherapy sessions to be scheduled and other matters, I almost decided to stop writing my blog or place it on a very long pause.  But, I enjoy the blog and most of all, reading all my blogging friends' blogs and comments.  Instead I'll try to write one post per month until I can return to a more regular schedule.  I had already written the post for January but then the tragedy in Paris happened.  I decided to shorten this post so that I could write about France and more, but once finished I realized it was way too long, so I am cutting this post into two parts.  For Christmas we drove to Tennessee.  There was heavy fog in the North Georgia Mountains, but it dissipated in the valleys.

I usually avoid driving on the freeways around Chattanooga, Tennessee, as there are so many large trucks.  Instead we drive through John's Mountain Wildlife Area which is part of the Chattahoochee National Forest, and also along Cloud Canyon State Park.  There is hardly any traffic, just a few houses along the way ... and churches.

I gave our little granddaughter a hand-knitted hat I had bought in Tallinn, Estonia, last May.  She liked it very much.  It was hard trying to take her picture with the hat as she moved so much (she is below near the au-pair lady from China.)  Our second grandson was waiting to eat a slice of the Buche de Noel I had bought at the French bakery here.  I received some nice boxes of chocolate and several books.  (Please click on collage to read the titles of the books.)

We purchased our house in Cobb County, Georgia, in the mid 1970s and for our first Christmas we bought a live Christmas tree (we thought it was a cedar tree) then planted it in the front yard by the mail box.  We used to decorate the tree every year but it became too tall.  It is a lovely tree, not a cedar but a hemlock, a coniferous evergreen - it keeps its foliage year-round.  We also have a cedar tree along the road and the foliage is different.  The hemlock has smooth, shiny and small needles, and the cedar has flat, dull scale-like foliage.  The hemlock has dainty cones as well.  The cedar foliage is on the left, below.

We love our hemlock tree and our daughters do too.  It has been standing by the driveway for decades now and it is like a friend greeting us as we enter toward the house.  I like to take pictures of it whenever we have snow.  Here are some snowy pictures I took last January.

Well, around the holidays we received a letter from the Cobb County Water Commission telling us that they were going to lay down a large water main and needed to obtain a permanent easement along our land.  To do this work, they announced that all the trees on the property along the road, a piece of land 30 feet wide (9,14 meters) by about 250 feet long (76 meters) would have to be cut down - including our lovely hemlock and cedar trees.  I just went out to take more pictures of our hemlock tree as it is such a sunny and warm day for January - 65 degrees (18 C.)  I took pictures also of the sky above the trees.  Since working for decades in the aircraft industry, I always look up as soon as I walk outdoors.  An aircraft had just passed over the cedar tree but I missed taking its picture.  Below, the photos of the hemlock and sky above are on the top, and the cedar and sky above on the bottom.

"There is a certain feeling of courage and hope when you work in the field of the air.  You instinctively look up, not down.  You look ahead, not back.  You look ahead where the horizons are absolutely unlimited."  - Robert E. "Bob" Gross, Lockheed's Chairman/CEO 1932-1961

We cannot fight against the county to stop the cutting down of our trees as they tell us it is for the "common good."  Although I have found out that it won't be for our own good, since this water main is only to transport raw water from the Chattahoochee River for processing at a water cleaning facility west of us.  The direct route for the water main was along the big highway, but there are several businesses there.  It would have been expensive for the County to get clearance from them and they said it would have disturb their business.  The County decided it was more cost effective to take a "loop" into the residential area and cut all the trees down that are in the way.  When I look up I won't see the sun filtering through the pines any longer ...

"Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money." - Cree Indian Proverb

We are desolate really because we have so many tall trees along the road.  They provide a barrier from the house - we barely see the road and vice-versa, the house cannot be seen.  My husband walked the land and figured out that they will cut about 80 pine and assorted trees, most of the trees you see in the pictures below.

It will be sad not to see all these tall pine trees from my window, behind the computer as I type - watching the sunset, or the golden leaves, the fog or the snow.

People have loved bringing trees into their homes for centuries.  During the winter solstice Pagan cultures brought cut boughs of evergreen trees into their homes to decorate them. The tradition went down to the present Christmas trees.  Did you know that in Russia, New Year is celebrated with a fir tree?  It is called a "yolka" tree.  The Bolsheviks banned Christmas celebrations after the Communist Revolution in 1917.  But on 28 December 1935, a Soviet Politician, Pavel Postyshev, published a letter in the newspaper Pravda, asking schools, children's homes, orphanages, clubs, cinemas, etc. not to deprive children of the wonderful joy of having a decorated fir tree for New Year.  The tree lost his religious association and the night of December 31st became an important holiday in Russia.  This is when "Ded Moroz" or Grandfather Frost (with a red or blue cape) delivers gifts.  During my first visit to St. Petersburg, Russia, I bought a small hand carved Ded Moroz.

Ded Moroz, Grandfather Frost is often accompanied by his beautiful granddaughter "Snegurochka" the Snow Maiden, well known from Russian popular winter tales.  Her picture is often painted on the matryoshka doll (Russian nesting doll.)  Here they are below painted by Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926) considered to be the co-founder of Russian folklorist and romantic modernist painting.

For the last 79 years New Year's Eve "Novy God" has been the biggest party of the year for everyone in Russia.  For most contemporary Russians whether non-believers, Christians, Jews or Muslims this is the traditional national holiday they look forward to for celebrating and exchanging presents.

Actually, this has created some problem for the one million Russian Jewish emigrants to Israel and even those settling in the US.  They wish to celebrate their secular New Year's "Novy God" with the yolka tree and Ded Moroz, but Israeli rabbis do not accept this New Year celebration.  Since 1998, they have forbidden Israel hotels and banquet halls to disply the trees and other reminders of this Russian celebration.  The views of these decorated trees in windows of private Russian homes have enraged many Israelis - some reacting with aggression and even with violence (they say it insults the religion.)  But it was the shocked Russian emigrants who felt insulted and deprived of their rights.  I even read a story last year on the web written by Natasha Gross, a Russian Jewish emigrant to New York, saying that she would have a yolka tree in her house that year, but I understand it was hidden because her in-laws find it offensive, even though this is a secular Russian tradition.  It is a poignant story in a way, you can read it here: : https://parenttoparent.kontribune.com/articles/4100 , it is not very long .  Below is a cartoon by Makhmud Eshonkulov from Tashkent, Uzbekistan (born in 1958.)

I looked at several of Makhmud's cartoons and am surprised that he is able to draw them in Uzbekistan, many countries do not approve of this freedom of speech.  New Year is over now - completely.  As I have written before, in the majority of Orthodox Christian populations there are two Christmas, one on December 25 and one on January 6/7 and two New Year celebrations, one on January 1st and the second, calculated according to the Julian calendar, on January 13/14.  Millions of people celebrated New Year 2015 as "Old New Year" on the 13 or 14h January, such as my father's people the Armenians as well as people from the Balkans, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Orthodox Christians in many other countries.  Below is an Armenian poster for the Old New Year.

As I showed in my top collage, Paris celebrated New Year with lovely fireworks and general happiness.  In France we can wish a Happy New Year till the end of January, so I am wishing you all a very happy 2015.

In the second part of this post I'll talk about what happened in Paris about a week after the New Year.