To your health (and mine!)

       I love trees. All trees: sturdy oaks, graceful willows, flowering cherries, tall pines and palm trees silhouetted against a moonlit sky.
       An article in The Naples Daily News last week discussed a recent study finding "Leafy, tree-lined streets...might be good for your health." The study showed that adding just ten trees to a city street could make the people who lived there feel seven years younger. They took the respondents ages, income levels, and current living conditions, and the availability of health care into consideration.  
       Although scientists recognize a strong correlation between living on a tree-lined street and our health, the researchers don't know why it is so. Maybe:

•        The ability of trees to clean pollutants out of the air?
  
•        Their addition of oxygen for us to breathe?
  
•        Their beautiful contribution to neighborhoods?
  
•        All three?

       So I feel very lucky to live on a tree-lined street in a city designated as a "Tree City, USA." I'll continue to hug my trees, watch for birds landing in their branches and feel nourished.
       If you love today's quote from Joyce Kilmer's poem too, you can find the whole text at The Poetry Foundation's website:
               http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/1947

What makes you feel beautiful and loved?

                                                                   --stay curious!