h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It must be global warming. This is not good for the ski resorts, I hope you get a little snow for Christmas for the children and Conan's sake.

Frohe Weinachten to you, too.

I thought this picture would be about christmas in Vienna. I was getting ready a lovely Austrian carol called "Still still still."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKNJO6XpCT8

Good of the snow to make a seasonal appearance, at least for the photoshoot. So you decorate a tree in your garden for Christmas? Looks great! Do birdies go and sit in it?

I have various evergreens in planters in my yard. I've been known to tie red bows at the tops, or put pine cones and Christmas ornaments around the bases.

There's a tall evergreen tree next to my car. it's too big for decorating. I like to let it just be the way it is.

St. Boniface (680–754) is said to have been the first to use an evergreen as a symbol of Christ. In a pagan German village, the residents had an annual Winter tradition of making a human sacrifice to Thor on the "Thunder Oak." They claimed that Thor would protect the oak, but Boniface chopped t down and directed their attention to a young fir tree that was growing behind it. “This little tree, a young child of the forest, shall be your holy tree tonight. It is the wood of peace… It is the sign of an endless life, for its leaves are ever green. See how it points upward to heaven. Let this be called the tree of the Christ-child; gather about it" he told them.This was part of his missionary work. Saint Boniface came form Devon in England.

sorry, I'm late

Snow generally isn't here at Christmas. We had snow until a few days before christmas, then we got 12°C so it all melted. It basically happens every year. In this case it isn't even global warming but just the natural thing to happen. It usually returns around New Year. This year we even had a snowstorm on the 25th (but it all melted on the ground immediately).

I have some platic balls to hang up in the garden. I didn't do a whole tree yet as we don't have any of an appropriate size (we just got rid of nine 20-30 meters high firs).

And I'm sorry to say it but this St Boniface sounds really mean.

I'm with you, Tav, about Boniface, aka Wynfryth from Crediton, Devon. When I first heard about him as a kid in Vacation Bible School, I thought he was a menace to the environment.

'Woodman, spare that tree! Touch not a single bough! In youth it sheltered me, and I'll protect it now.' (Old poem.) I suspect 'culture wars' were going on. Boniface was Bishop of Mainz.

On a more cheerful note, Boniface was killed by heathen Frisians in 754. He's entombed in Fulda, in case you want to go tell him off.

I more or less expected some sympathy for the poor old oak tree. Oaks are not special in any individual way, but they do everything well. This makes them hard to kill. Trust me, the oak sapling under my front steps has resisted my efforts to remove it for three or four years now. If you look at the crown of an oak and multiply by three, you will get an idea of the size of the root mass. I've seen dozens of acorns fall into big planters in my yard, and within a few days the tap roots have grown more than six inches long. Over time, an oak's tap root can go down twenty or thirty feet, plus there will widespread collateral roots near the surface.

I would have just allowed the oak to live, and handled things differently. Oaks share nutrients with nearby trees through the roots. I've read about Douglas firs that shares nutrients with paper birches. I'll bet that the oak and the Douglas fir were also sharing.

Wynfryth from Crediton??

How come I just spent the last thirty years of my life in Devon, and I never heard of this Wynfryth?

Strange, I thought about this conversation today as I padded through town in the early misty morning. I saw this palm tree in front of a house, all decorated with red and silver baubles, looked so magic.

A sacred palm tree.

Saint Boniface moved away from Devon a few years before you arrived there.

People in Boston probably don't remember Saint Botolphe for the same reason.

Oh, that explains it. Thanks paulh.

Yes, I loved my sacred palm. I'm going to go try to find the street tomorrow and look at it again.

Where's that palm smiley you used ... wait ..

Island!

I only know Saint Boniface as one of the Ice Saints, but wiki tells me that one was a different Boniface. The Ice Saints are the feast days of Boniface, Pancras, Servatius and Sophia in mid May. Legend says they are the last frosty days in spring.

Ice Saints? Has Ted Williams been stored nearby?