Perhaps the Greatest Gift
My apartment in Meudon is about 7 km away as the crow flies from the Eiffel Tower. On the fourth floor of my building the tower is easy to see. Yet for centuries Meudon was in the countryside, not a suburb of Paris like it is today (the suburban train to the tower takes 15 min). There were several large estates around the village. Almost all of them have now been carved up into individual lots for houses or converted into apartment complexes like mine. While Meudon has many vestiges of its past one could argue that the relics that most invigorate the town are its trees. The French have a thing for trees.The great 19th century French writer Stendhal published notes about his Travels in the South of France in 1838. He mentions the trees he finds on almost every other page. Here is one example.
At Cuers, I ate cherries for the first time this year. This little town would be rather ugly if it were not for the plane trees. The gorgeous plane tree planted in front of the town hall is definitely an armament. Magnificent sound of the bell. I went into the church, nothing could be duller, Gothic feathered arch, nave shaped like a tennis court. The square is not bad because of the great trees.
My apartment complex is named after a tree, Residence du Sequoia. The beautiful specimen was obviously there for decades before the construction of the apartments in 1960.
In the morning I sit on my couch with a cup of coffee and look at one of those marvelous French plane trees (related to a sycamore). But what makes the morning view more interesting is a pair of pigeons that I call the love birds. I don’t know very much about bird biology but these two are obviously French due to their public displays of affection.
Out of our bedroom window is a much more domestic scene. I often see a very busy magpie tending her (or maybe it is his) nest while I begin to doze into my luxurious afternoon siesta.
The stars of this avian spectacle are the parakeets. Presumably escaped from captivity, these darlings of the tree tops have brilliant plumage and are exceptional flyers.
The trees and birds, everyday sights, bring me regular delight yet most people do not have the time nor inclination to pay attention to them. What a pity. It is at some level a question of attention (see my previous Beli
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LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
