Rambles Along the EDGE

In November 2004, after a four month open voting process on the website of The National Arbor Day Foundation, Congress passed legislation designating the Oak as the National Tree of America.

Oak, the most widespread of America’s hardwoods, has more than 60 species. One of those, the Southern Live Oak tree goes by many names. I think most commonly it is just called Live Oak by people who live where it grows. And it grows commonly from Texas to Carolinas, although it can be found in other areas. As a representative of the Oak, the Southern Live Oak is a tree to be proud of.

The tree is described by some as being an evergreen. That isn’t exactly true. The live oak is a deciduous tree. It does maintain it’s leaves throughout the winter, but sheds and quickly regrows them over just a few short weeks in the spring. It would certainly seem evergreen unless you were watching carefully.

Today, the tree is mostly thought of as a landscape or street tree. But, during colonial times it was ideal for use in shipbuilding. It has the highest density of any North American hardwood. Because of this, it was used in the construction of “Old Ironsides”, the US ship famous for being so tough that the cannon balls from British war ships literally bounced off. The massive branches of the live oak was used for the curved ribs of ships. A cousin, the white oak, was actually used for the planking on the USS Constitution because shipbuilders of the time didn’t have the skill to bend or steam the tougher live oak wood into shape. That same toughness makes the live oak ideal for use as fuel or charcoal cooking.

Live oak forms a broad and massive tree, often wider than high at maturity. In the Deep South it is often festooned with Spanish moss dangling from its branches. It is indeed an image associated with the South. Think of plantations and images of live oaks and Spanish moss automatically come to mind.

Those trees used to be far more common. Today, although there are isolated trees and groves, it is far easier to find scenic live oaks in parks and landmarks. Several plantations boast hundreds of yards of tree lined roadways. Imagine miles or even hundreds of miles of tree lined roadways.

The wide neutral ground of Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans was lined with live oak trees, and it’s public green space served as a center of congregation of the area’s residents. That ended in the late 1960’s, when Interstate 10 was constructed above the oldest section of Claiborne Avenue and down came the trees.

As a WPA project, Highway 190 was extended across the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to Brady, Texas in the 1930’s. Live oaks were planted along it’s length. I vaguely remember seeing those trees when I first traveled that roadway from Opelousas to Baton Rouge in the late 60s.
A fungus deadly to the live oak was first identified in 1942 Wisconsin had already reached Louisiana by that time. Combined with road expansion and other man-made disasters, that fungus has now virtually eliminated much of the beauty of that drive. That fungus is now common in 22 states.

Although many trees along the Louisiana and Mississippi were destroyed by recent hurricanes, the live oak, as a general rule, is very resistant to weather. A very large portion of those trees were destroyed, not by hurricane force winds, but by having their root systems immersed in salt water for days and weeks. The Seven Sisters Oak was the largest certified Southern Live Oak tree. It is located a few miles from my home in Mandeville, Louisiana. It is estimated to be at least 1000 years old, possibly as old as 1500 years. In 2005, the Seven Sisters Oak survived a near direct hit from Hurricane Katrina. I say was because in the spring of 2008 the Village Sentinel in Waycross, Georgia was remeasured and found to have grown enough to surpass my local tree.

But, I don’t mind. My local tree is still there. It’s still massive. It still serves as a symbol. It’s a symbol of American history. It’s a symbol of strength. It’s a symbol of hope. Thousands of live oak trees are being planted across Louisiana, both to replace those lost in recent hurricanes and to slow coastal erosion and protect our coastline.

Since I purchased my property north of New Orleans I have planned a tree-lined drive. Leyland Cyprus was my tree of choice. I am beginning to rethink that choice. Not only would I be helping preserve a true southern native, the Southern Live Oak is much more fitting for this ‘Southern Gentleman’. I would certainly like to think that my grandchildren remembered the landscape when they remembered visiting their grandparents.

Zane Melder EDGE Books Kentwood, LA

Etiquette is important!

Manners, or etiquette, are a single, basic code shared by all, making life simpler and more pleasant by removing many chances for misunderstandings and by creating opportunities for courtesy and mutual respect. Those codes have been developed and passed down for thousands of years.  The problem arises in the fact that the sense and sensibility of Ancient Egypt differed from that of Ancient Greece which differed from that of the American colonies and from that of the culture of the 21st century Internet.

Each generation has to develop an etiquette suitable for their circumstances. Emily Post, a popular novelist, did it for her generation. In 1922, she authored an engaging read simply titled Etiquette. She took the manners she was taught as a child and added those things which fit into her view of the world. Was it right? Of course! Millions of copies of the book were sold. Suddenly, a wide segment of the population had a set of rules to follow. Did it all make sense? Does it matter which fork is used if you only have one fork? Probably not. But it became a standard to strive toward.

The title phrase is from the cartoon strip Alphonse and Gaston, which featured a bumbling pair of Frenchmen with a penchant for politeness. The strip ran irregularly from 1901 until the cartoonist’s death in 1937.  The premise of their strip was that they were both extremely polite, constantly bowing to each other and deferring to each other. Neither could ever do anything or go anywhere because each insisted on letting the other precede him.

Manners and etiquette carried to an extreme or inappropriately applied can become immobilizing.

A question I posed online was ” When being seated in a restaurant, who leads the way to the table, the man or the woman.”

Jo replied that the man always leads the way. That makes sense. It’s what she was taught.  Chivalry, right? In fact, it’s not proper etiquette.

The correct response to my question is that, as far as ‘proper’ etiquette is concerned, a gentleman leads the lady if they are being seated by a hostess. The lady leads with the gentleman trailing if they are being seated by a host.

The reason for this is that a hostess is presumed to not be as chivalrous as a host. She would seat the lady willy nilly. When a couple goes to a restaurant and are to be seated by a Maitre d,’ the woman follows the Maitre d’ to the table as the Maitre d’ is obviously schooled in the art of etiquette and dining and certainly would have the table and chairs of the restaurant in perfect order, the chair is clean and that the lady has the best possible place at the table before she is seated. With a hostess, that responsibility falls to the male half of the couple. However, in today’s restaurants, tables are often jammed into place to provide for the most seating. Even when following a host, it can be an obstacle course, let alone a trying to keep up with a host who is anxious to get you to your table and hurry back to his station to seat another party. By the time a couple shifts positioning to allow the lady to follow their host, he is already halfway across the restaurant. The gentleman must take charge and lead his date though that maze, following their host as best he may.

Do those same rules of etiquette apply today? Some do and some don’t.  So much of what we call manners is merely custom. Times change. Our customs change. Each generation has had to decide for itself which of their forebear’s customs continued to apply. A well-mannered gentleman offers a lady his seat. When doing so, he should engage the lady in a brief moment of conversation before allowing her to sit. This would allow her seat time to cool. Them’s manners! However, is it really polite, in today’s society, to think about a lady’s bottom needing cooling?

I’m a newlywed. Not only is Jo a few years younger than I, but she was raised under different circumstances. I open doors for her and seat her at a restaurant. She likes that. I always lead the way in a restaurant. She expects it. I’m learning not to base my decisions upon her previously stated preferences. I’m changing my customs.  I answer her questions with “Yes, ma’am” and “No, ma’am”.

It drives her crazy!  <gryn>

Zane Melder EDGE Books Kentwood, LA

Isn’t that nice.

I frequently receive emails telling me that I’ve been added. My friends and business associates are using Plaxo Pulse to keep in touch with their contacts and they want to add me as a friend. Again, nice.

The good news is that since I am already a Plaxo member, I just need to sign in with my AIM Screen name to accept my connection.

It all sounds great! I like my friends. And I’m glad that they have found a tool they like. Their emails go into a special folder where I can see who sent it before I delete it.  I haven’t the heart to tell them that I think it’s foolish.

For those of you who don’t know, Plaxo is an information sharing service which helps keep people connected by solving the common and, adminitedly, frustrating problem of out-of-date contact information. Users and their contacts store their information on Plaxo’s servers. The idea is that when a user edits their own information, the changes appear in the address books of all those who listed the user in their own address books. Because contacts are stored in a central location, it’s possible to list connections between contacts and access the address book from anywhere.

It sounds like a wonderful idea. It really does. So much so that, several years ago, I signed up for the Plaxo service. It was going to be great! The problems, however, started immediately.

Can you say SPAM?! Plaxo wanted to take over my address book. It immediately wanted to send out emails to every single person in my address book inviting them to join Plaxo. Huh? I get enough unsolicited email. Why would I want to bombard my friends or my business associates? Plaxo harrassed me until I finally removed it from my computer. I tried to cancel my account with Plaxo. If it is posible to do so, I was unable to easily discover the secret. I still have my account apparantly.

Seems to me that a more sensible method would be to have my information on Plaxo’s server. My friends can also have their own information on Plaxo’s server. If we each have the other in our respective address book, we can choose to release any updates to the other.  No SPAM! Just a simple exchange of information between friends, but through an intermediary. High Technology as it’s meant to be. Nice!  

Then again, why would I want some company routinely pulling personal data from my computer? I go to great lengths to prevent that from happening. I have anti-virus software, firewalls, SPAM filters, etc. My life would be a lot simpler if I didn’t need them and didn’t have them using computer resources and generally slowing things down. I am not going to use a ’service’ which does the same thing that I’m trying to prevent.

I’m told that Plaxo has changed. That it is now possible to control who gets SPAMMED and who doesn’t. it’s easier to opt out. I suppose it’s possible. Am I going to let a child molester babysit my granddaughter because he’s changed?

I’m still getting the SPAM from my friends.

Zane Melder EDGE Books Kentwood, LA

Hello world! What kind of title is that? It’s corny. It’s the first line of code that most people are given to write in their beginning programming classes. It introduces the programmer to his audience. In most cases, such as this one, it’s a bit of a stretch to imagine that the entire world will ever be the audience. Few will ever see these posts. Still, it’s an exercise.

Welcome to the EDGE Books weblog. As you can see, I have tentatively decided to call it Rambles Along the EDGE. This is my first post. Why am I doing this? Who knows! I certainly cannot compete with the thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of blogs already in existence. Then why? There are times when I have a comment to make. It may be on the books I carry. It may be on a particular author or the publishing world in general, the conventions I travel to or the customers I meet. Or my comments be be completely unrelated to books or the Science Fiction community.

As you will come to know through these ‘Rambles’, I like to eat. Among my comments are going to be comments on eating, cooking, tipping and  behavior in restaurants. A lot of that, I learned by living in the New Orleans area.

In short, my posts will be eclectic. I am not planning on posting on a regular basis. Simply whenever the urge strikes and the opportunity arises. Should you desire to make a comment on something I’ve said, please do so. I may respond directly. I may modify my comment because of your comment. Or, I may just ignore you completely. I reserve the right to remove any comment I feel is inappropriate.

Zane Melder EDGE Books Kentwood, LA