Treehouses.
I love them.
One of my favorite shows on TV is “Treehouse Masters” seen on The Animal Planet.
Such amazing creativity.
And I love the passion and joy exuded by the mastermind behind it all—Pete Nelson.
Jesse and I talk about how we would love to one day build a treehouse on a piece of property up in the Smoky Mountains when we retire. One of those wild & crazy dreams.
But since we already live in THIS house…
…maybe it isn’t so wild and crazy after all.
Jesse wants to build our treehouse—like he did our dome home—but since he didn’t excel in “completing what he started” I’m thinking…..no.
Anyway, over the weekend, Jesse excitedly called me into the office so I could see some photos of treehouses. Ones he might like to build for us.
When I sat down next to the computer I was confused at the photos I was seeing.
They weren’t of treehouses.
They were houses made out of trees.
Yes, yes. I know. ALL (or most) houses are made out of trees.
Lumber. Planed, carved, and molded to make walls, cabinets, and moulding.
But these houses were made out of whole trees. And limbs.
Oh, I’m all about “unique” and artistic and creative, but I felt a bit queasy even LOOKING at the crooked-limb beam work in some of these homes.
I glanced over at the profile of my husband to see if he was joking with me. Sadly, he wasn’t.
Here’s a sample:
Okay, I admit that it’s kind of cool, but I’m still not sold on it. I’ve lived in a dome for 30 years.
Do I want to advance to living with deconstructed trees for the remainder of my days on this earth?
I was thinking something more like this:
Yes. That. 🙂
With whole trees on the OUTSIDE of the house!
Well…the more I thought about Jesse’s interpretation of my dream retirement home, the more amused I was and I wanted to share it with my family and friends.
So the day after he showed me his “tree houses” I was up early before daybreak.
Hardly awake, I grabbed my iPad to find photos of the houses made out of trees for my “show and tell” story.
I’m usually pretty good with my search words and phrases, and even when I’m not, the search engines are relatively forgiving. They manage to figure out what you mean.
Right??
In my half awake state I entered something basic like: “houses made out of trees.”
Oh boy. The photos that came up were even more weird than the ones Jesse had shown me.
I then tried various other words and phrases with no success. “How odd,” I thought.
I finally sat there thinking about the terminology Jesse had used. I remembered something about stripped bark. So I put in “stripped trees.”
In the cloak of early morning darkness with just the glow of my iPad I was assaulted with this (and many similar ones):
Only they weren’t wearing the cute little leaves that I clothed them in. (Adam, of Adam & Eve fame, was my inspiration for that!)
And, yeah. I think I forgot to put the word “houses” in my search.
You can only imagine my shock…and horror!
I simply do NOT look at naked people!
The jolt of seeing these unclothed people hugging trees made it unnecessary for me to have any caffeine that morning.
You know the person I love the best in this photo? The true rebel. The woman who came to the “naked tree hugging party” fully clothed! Now THAT’S courage!
So…what else can I say other than… life is always an adventure.
One day you’re looking at treehouses, and the next day naked people hugging trees!
Lesson: Be careful what you put in the search engine.