??? Stunned at something I read from Annie Dillard

Dad is resting quietly today, following an extreme restlessness yesterday.

While he sleeps, I’m reading Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek for the third time since ’92. Amazing, the facts I didn’t absorb from earlier readings.

I’ve always been stirred by her account of the “tree with the lights in it”. But today is the first time I actually listened to the following:

I have since only very rarely seen the tree with the lights in it. The vision comes and goes, mostly goes, but I live for it . . .

I don’t get that at all. For as long as I can remember, I have only seen trees filled with lights. It’s been my undying obsession to replicate that effect with watercolor on paper. I never capture that vision, but I still try, because I daily see trees shimmering in glittering light as the winds flip the leaves backward, showing their brighter undersides.

These trees are definitely filled with lights

Here is one of my countless failures to capture that resplendent light I always see in trees.

I keep thinking I’m missing something as I read Dillard’s comments. She’s so incredibly sensitive and alert in her observations. Maybe I’ve missed her point here.

Thanks for reading.

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