On the Road with Tim Womick
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of reflections from the longtime traveling tree advocate.
I really do cherish the opportunity to stand in front of an audience and speak about the value of trees, particularly urban trees. So when the frantic call came from an upscale day camp for Manhattan kids, I gave it no second thought.
Getting to the camp early the next morning I was caught in the orange bus crush that hauled over 800 kids into the lush surroundings that had been a camp since 1922.
Soon my dear friend and Treeture creator Judith Blau appeared with two of her characters in tow, Sprig (a Treedom Fighter) and Blossom (a Tree Twirler). They had come to help the camp celebrate their "Green Day" too. Check out www.Treetures.com. This website offers valuable education material for primary aged school kids. Also, there are two new Treeture books available, "Welcome Spring" and "Meet the Mudsters" published by Grosset & Dunlap. Buy each and give to your local public library!
Within moments, "Lakeside Amphitheater" was packed with several hundred children and I shouted out those words that start each Trail of Trees performance, "Who can tell me something good trees give us?"
These kids were definitely upper crust. For tiny 4-year-olds to fifth graders, the show zooms by. The kids were all what I call "bright shineys," big smiles, wide-eyed and inquisitive. You could sense they came from well-heeled, educated families.
The thing that's so cool to me about what I do is getting kids up in the act, and today there were 54 of them. Some freeze and need tremendous coaxing; others bask in the spotlight. Some nail answers while others become mute. No matter, I do everything I can to elevate them to success. It's all about making them feel good about themselves, and often times, just like today, quite and reserved ones who never thought they'd be wearing glitzy sun glasses and singing in front of a crowd, will belt out, "Shade, shade, shade, trees give us shade."
Wanting more shows than contracted, I agreed because pleasing clients is tops on my list. I was now forced to leave their camp at 3:30 p.m. and attempt to make a 6:10 flight via some Palisade and the New Jersey Turnpike, 52 miles away.
The cosmic travel agent was waxing like the moon and brought me to the gate 10 minutes before boarding. Once loaded, we waited over 3 hours on the Newark tarmac, held down by bad weather and stacked-up jets over Atlanta.
I sat there and thought about the small Douglas Firs we planted beside their outdoor chess court. I thought about those hundreds of kids who I hoped were now snug in bed, just across the Hudson, dreaming of the song, "Trees are my friends."
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Tim Womick can be reached at appleseedz@earthlink.net |
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