of and pertaining to trees, part 3

One of the early non-hispanic landowners in Santa Cruz was a Mr. Wagner (quite possibly Herr Wagner at first). A piece of his land which was unsuitable for building was added to Harvey West Park, and a trail through that connects the park with the Spring Street neighborhood. At the bottom of the land is Wagner Cottage, well-known to kids and parents who attend the summer recreation programs. All along the lower reaches of Wagner Gulch are some non-native trees, perhaps imported because of their spectacular spring blooms.

The trees are Aesculus hippocastanum. Around the beginning of December they start dropping their rather considerable load of large nuts onto the ground. This year I couldn't resist and gathered several loads of them. It turns out that they have traditional recreational uses, British ones, kindof like morris dancing.

Today I pierced several, strung them, and invited out the girls. We played conkers. There's something in this game which is missing from the flash animation games they find so appealing. Conkers are natural resources. Conkers are seasonal. Conkers are expected to last only a while before they are destroyed. When they're done, you have to go and make up a new game. It's very different than sitting at the computer where new games magically appear without any effort on the part of the player. And it's very different than sitting utterly alone in front of a screen.