It has stopped raining now, and the cafe is closing, so we go out into the fresh air. We’re heading in different directions, but she’s determined to walk me to the park gate. I notice what a good listener she is, her body angled towards mine confidingly. She is a very serious person. It’s not only that she regards it as her political duty to talk of such things as equality and diversity; she seems to relish doing so. But there’s a larky, student-ish side to her, too. Is it true that she loves heavy metal, I ask. Her gentleness seems a bit at odds with headbanging. “Oh, yes,” she says. “I’ve always loved it.” She lists several bands, none of which I’ve heard of. “I like all the sub-genres: industrial, viking…” While she’s working, she listens to the same song over and over, using headphones so her children don’t complain. Crikey. Can she concentrate? “Yes! That’s when I write best. I don’t like silence. It makes me nervous.” Somewhere in the distance, I hear the obliging roar of a motorbike. The Woodland Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales (No. 294344) and in Scotland (No. SC038885). A non-profit-making company limited by guarantee. Registered in England No. 1982873. Was London the obvious place to come? “Yes, it really was. I love this country. It’s so diverse, and I don’t take that for granted, because I come from a country that has never appreciated diversity. But I’ve also seen it change. Imagine it. I became a British citizen, and a few months later, Britain left the EU. I used to think British people were so calm when they talked about politics, but that calmness has gone. Brexit broke a strained system. There are many things that worry me, and one is that the language of politics is full of martial metaphors now. This talk of judges being the enemy of the people. It makes me freeze. These are dangerous signs. I’ve met some arrogant politicians. ‘Surely you’re not comparing the UK to Turkey,’ they say. No, I’m not saying that. But what has happened elsewhere can always happen here.” Montessori Bookshelf Wooden Kids Bookcase Gift for Toddler Library Nursery Decor Shelves for Nursery Frontfacing Books Shelf

Tree Book The Stories, Science, and History of Trees - NHBS The Tree Book The Stories, Science, and History of Trees - NHBS

Christmas Vintage Library Due Date Ornament, Librarian Ornament, Christmas Tree Decoration, Book Lover Gift, Lover Bookworm, 4 Shapes The enduring classic of all things arboreal. Evelyn published his marvellous account of England’s trees soon after the Restoration of Charles II, to promote tree-planting and so secure the country’s future supplies of oak timber. In the days before iron and steel, trade, exploration and defence all depended on oak-built ships. What’s appealing about this classic is Evelyn’s infectious enthusiasm and strong opinions about trees. Gabriel Hemery’s recent revisiting, The New Sylva, brings Evelyn up to date and includes beautiful pencil sketches by Sarah Simblet. Big Tree Mushroom, Hand Carved Sculpture, Rustic, Handmade, Sculpture, Ornament, Handmade Decor, Bookshelf, Nursery Decor, Christmas GiftsBookshelve, Bookshelf, Tree Bookcase, Wood Tree Bookshelves, Unicorn, Wall Bookcases, Wooden Book stand, Decorative Library Retro Christmas Tree Ornament, Retro Books Photo Ornaments, Bookshelf Car Pendant, Book Lovers ornament, Teacher Gifts, Student Gifts Wall Mounted 4 Shelves Space Saver Kids Bookshelf, Montessori Book Display for Baby, Book Organiser for Kids Room, Gift for Baby

Top 10 books about trees | Books | The Guardian

This vivid account of self-sufficiency at the outbreak of the second world war is a testament to the human capacity to keep going and keep hoping. The apples are vital to the Bells’ physical and spiritual survival: reminders of nature’s eternal, cyclical strength and pledges of future peace. The book is valuable, too, for the portrait of the infant Anthea Bell, who grew up to become famous as the translator of the Asterix books. Christmas Book Tree Ornament, Book Lover Christmas Ornament, Book Lover Ornament, Book Club Ornament, Book Lover Christmas Gifts, LibrarianI’ve always believed in inherited pain,” says Shafak. “It’s not scientific, perhaps, but things we cannot talk about easily within families do pass from one generation to the next, unspoken. In immigrant families, the older generation often wants to protect the younger from past sorrow, so they choose not to say much, and the second generation is too busy adapting, being part of the host country, to investigate. So it’s left to the third generation to dig into memory. I’ve met many third-generation immigrants who have older memories even than their parents. Their mothers and fathers tell them: ‘This is your home, forget about all that.’ But for them, identity matters.” Her botanical reading, as her bibliography reveals, was extensive (Richard Mabey, Merlin Sheldrake, an academic article about the notion of “optimism” and “pessimism” in plants). In the novel, Kostas at one point buries his fig, the better to protect it from the British winter. “I’d heard that they could be buried,” says Shafak. “When I lived in Ann Arbor in Michigan, where it can be quite cold, I heard of Italian and Portuguese families doing this. I found out that it really works. You hide it safely beneath the ground for two months, and then, when the spring comes, you unbury it, and it’s a kind of miracle, because it’s alive.” Later, this unburying is mirrored by other, grimmer exhumations: those carried out by the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus, a bicommunal organisation that continues to try to find and identify the bodies of the civil war’s disappeared. Tate Britain’s winter retrospective demonstrated Paul Nash’s extraordinary and enduring feeling for trees. His autobiography, Outline, works as a companion to his painting career, linking the beech tree in his special childhood place in Kensington Gardens to the mysterious group of beeches silhouetted on the hill at Wittenham Clumps, and then to the devastated, topless trunks in the first world war battlefields of northern France.