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Monday, August 27, 2012

Tattoo


This guy I know... has a tattoo of a ginkgo leaf tattooed onto his forearm. It was originally quite bright but has faded a little over the past 14 years. Ginkgo are a wonderful tree with a mystique stemming from it's apparent disappearance from the biosphere, with a remarkable and romantic reappearance in a monastery high in some Chinese mountain. Some young fellow remembers the butter-yellow leaves of a spreading ginkgo, floating on the surface of the water left til autumn, in a school swimming pool, and decided to sketch one of those to give his tattooist a guide as to what he wanted. 

6 comments:

Suz said...

What an awesome memory for that young guy!

Joe W said...

What a nice one.

Auckland's venerable late 19th Century ginkgos.

robertguyton said...

It influenced his adult life significantly, Suz :-)

robertguyton said...

Those ginkgo are magnificent, Joe. The fallen leaves in the gutter excite me as much as the trees, oddly :-)
I have two growing here, in the deep south.

Joe W said...

Thanks Robert, I have fond memories of those ginkgoes, they're a really imaginative early civic planting. One thing I don't recall is the smell of the decaying nuts, which apparently has to be 'explained' occasionally to guests at the nearby hotel.

robertguyton said...

I've heard about the pongy fruits but never smelled them. One day I will. Nelson has a lot of ginkgo, planted up and down the streets in the city.
Go ginkgo!