At five, I wanted a treehouse. The idea filled my mind with possibilities. I’m sure I talked about it to my parents hoping for a miracle. Two years later while I was at school, my father built a platform between three “pussy willow” trees with my four year old brother.
Although I was excited by the foundation of a treehouse, it stung that he built it with my brother. It frustrated me that my father could not accept me as an athletic daughter with outdoor interests. I begged my father to play catch with me but his disinterest was obvious. My brother wasn’t the son my father wanted. He continued to push my brother but overall did little with us. Building the treehouse platform was one of the few things he ever built for us. Not being the child chosen to build the platform did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm for treehouse possibilities. I went to work.
The square platform was five feet high and three feet on a side. It sit close to the creek running through our backyard. It was actually a runoff stream from the highway up the hill but I didn’t know that then. The creek stirred wildlife possibilities in my mind leading to endless hours of imagination and bug watching while looking for non-existent fish. Mud daubers often rested on my hand while I remained perfectly still. I was never stung. It was obvious to me the platform was a ship steering into adventure.
My first act was to build the front wall as the prow of the ship from which I would command as captain. My poor brother was first mate and treated accordingly. I berated him mercilessly when he brought the wrong piece of wood. I think my model was the Skipper’s treatment of Gilligan on the television show. Eventually, shame stopped my bad captain behavior.
We had old lumber in an ancient garage we called the shop. In it, I found the proper sized wood for the prow nailing it between the two trees. It commanded a view of the backyard, creek, and overgrowth obscured neighboring yards. I could envision a mile west to Puget Sound. I was captain and nothing was outside my purview. Ship identification was nicely solved by nailing an old license plate on the front.
My father had sunk a post to support the fourth platform corner with the three trees. As a type of willow, the trees were small in diameter and very soft. They happily grew on the banks of the stream. Two by four ladder rungs allowed platform access on the side away from the stream. To do more than nail boards between trees required carpentry skills I did not have. I embarked on trial and error to learn what worked. I had wood, nails, a hammer, and handsaw. My creativity was on full boil. After one success, the next development was inevitable.
I started by figuring out how to create additional platforms. After the front of the boat, next up were shelves for sleeping bunks under the main deck for sailors. Several collapsed bunks taught me basic support concepts. The captain and first mate were not seriously injured in these engineering failures. The poor trees survived countless nails and, although mistreated, stood fast. Every spring, they grew pussy willows (or had them underneath and along side). I loved the soft, textured buds and took comfort in their gentleness.
[Picture of a bareheaded Zack with me in a Calvary hat outside a roughly built shed in pre-treehouse times. 1963]
The three Carlson kids who lived across the street inspected the treehouse ship daily. After the failed bunks, I began building the upper decks. These were required for viewing and segregating passengers. We paired off by age groups. Linda and I were the oldest, my brother, Zack, and Christine were next with the younger, Robbie, tagging along.
Building a successful roof created a new ship deck which required a third deck to accommodate the pairs which naturally required a roof for rainy weather. After all, this was the Pacific Northwest. The platforms were strong enough for one upper deck occupancy at a time. Of course, I pushed it with children on each deck for full occupancy. After loading the decks as we were settling in for the voyage, there was a slow motion collapse of the third deck into the second deck bringing the down entire upper structure. I gave the command, “Abandon ship!” Children scurried out from under the cascading decks. While no children were injured, I learned an important lesson. There are limits to what’s possible and therefore desirable. I didn’t make the over enthusiastic deck mistake again.
In the second year, my father added a six foot extension at the rear of the platform on two additional five foot high posts. It may have been at our insistence for sleeping in the treehouse. These posts stood firm as the rain swollen creek expanded and contracted around them which only added to my idea of a ship. The new platform made sleeping outside in the treehouse a real possibility.
First up was protection to keep us from rolling off the platform into the stream. Zack and I had always explored outside sleeping options. We never had a proper tent but we had sleeping bags, recycled material, and imagination. My brother was always game for my lunacy. We slept on the front patio. We slept in different parts of the yard under the trees or on the front grass. Each location was unique. I found a long piece of wire fencing which I fashioned as a arc over us with plastic to protect us. We slept under it often and regularly moved it around. I decided it made a perfect protective barrier on the creek side of the platform. It did not block off the view. With no roof, our sleeping bags were open to the stars while hovering over the creek. It was heaven.
I slept there with my brother. My favorite was to invite one of my friends. There was only room for two. My best friend, Linda Carlsen, moved away during my fourth grade summer. I was bereft. The next year, I met Cathy Cavette.
At 11 years old, Cathy and I were both tall girls in elementary school. We had good times. Cathy thought I was funny. I could certainly act out a story with my long, thin limbs waving crazily in improv comedy. Cathy delighted in me coming to her house entertaining her and her older sister. “Can you believe her,” she’d say. “She’s just crazy. You’re crazy but so funny.” They laughed in response to my antics which spurred me on. I always enjoy an appreciative audience. I wanted to be a comedian like Carol Burnett.
We frequently slept over at each other’s house during the summer. I remember her and I sleeping on the treehouse platform. Once in the middle of the night, I awoke to a lovely bright, full moon floating perfectly above us. I woke Cathy to show her. She simply couldn’t believe I would wake her in the middle of the night just to look at the moon. “You woke me up to look at the moon?! Just to look at the moon!” For the next two years, she told every new kid we met, “She woke me up in the middle of the night just to look at the moon! Can you believe that?” This response mystified me. It wasn’t the least bit odd to me. This remains true. I love great views, night or day.
Cathy moved the summer of sixth grade outside my school system. I only saw her a couple times after that. I wonder what she thinks of the moon now. Maybe once in awhile when she notices the moon she thinks of the night with me in the treehouse. Wherever she is, I hope so.
[I woke up at four in the morning one day in May this year and snapped this picture of the crescent moon over a shadowed lake.]
Entering junior high after Cathy moved, I became troubled and distracted. My treehouse lost allure. The next year I ran away from my mother’s house after the divorce. I never forgot the joy the treehouse brought me in imagination and moonlit nights. I didn’t build another treehouse until my daughter reached eight over twenty-five years later.
***
I’ve never been trained in wood work. I did spend years observing my grandfather. I became a barbarian carpenter. The hallmark of barbarian carpentry is very sturdy overbuilt creations that last forever with too many nails or screws. Angles other than 90 degrees flummox me. With no training, I specialize in two by four creations from collecting used lumber. I may not have many skills but I do have my grandpa’s recycle and reuse genes down to my core. In other words, my builds aren’t pretty but they function as intended.
Into this enters my daughter. Scrounging in my wood pile, I built her a wooden wagon. I gave her a smaller hammer and nails to pound in wood pieces. I avoid sawing but she had a try at the handsaw. The wagon was bigger than necessary probably because the floor piece was too wide to cut with a handsaw. She pulled it with rope fastened in holes on the front two sides. It weighed a ton. With scrounged black plastic lawn mower wheels, it rolled. It was a workout for a three year old. In her black patent leather shoes and pink and purple outfit, she strained like a farmer in frills pulling against a stubborn mule. With momentum it moved which is the only measurement of success in barbarian carpentry. Unfortunately, it caused her to fall on her keister from leaning back so hard to move it.
I followed this by sinking a post with a beam connected to the carport to create a wooden swing. Sadly, I used what little rope I had on the wagon so it was hung with dog leash chains. It was not the smoothest swing but it worked meeting my stringent barbarian standards. I followed with a ladder connected to a platform for a slide. What does a barbarian do with a home built wooden slide? Line it with plastic, of course, to prevent slivers. One can see I was cooking on several if not all burners. And when the plastic doesn’t slide well? Run water down it. Note to self, place cushioning at the bottom over the hard dirt for daughter’s little butt to land. For a bit after that she refused to go down it and always used her feet on the sides to slow her decent. She hasn’t forgiven me. Lesson learned.
The following year, I recruited her to build a playhouse at the far edge of the yard complete with Dutch doors, used inset plexiglass window, and windows in each wall. With an twelve inch elevated floor, it had two steps up. Of course, the roof had a 90 degree peak making it the same height as the walls. It didn’t look that funny and resembled a play house. Standing in it with my head in the peak caused a final attic window installation.
I believe my daughter preferred painting. I did not treat her like a first mate and sprung for the cost of pale green and lavender paint having none in my carport stock. I tried not to constantly manage her painting over the windowpane edges. The masking tape wasn’t entirely successful. It was important they remain somewhat transparent or what’s the point?
After the playhouse, I tackled the dream of a treehouse. There were six trees in a rough circle in the untamed wilderness of the side yard. Across a dirt driveway, it connected to a steep sided, wooded ravine that wound through our urban area for a mile. It was a lovely location. Connecting the trees, I built a wooden platform with Alex six feet high. Three rungs connected to a small platform with two upper rungs providing access. I finished the platform with two heights of side rails for safety. There was a slight tilt to one side requiring a lip to avoid things rolling off. Alex and I consulted on a weak point in the support structure. Once fixed, we were good to go.
A unique place developed underneath. It could be a play area but eventually became extra firewood storage. It almost kept it dry. With a small platform to gain access, our large dogs easily learned to climb up. At the age of eight, it was safe for our daughter. With more than six feet on a side, I’d rediscovered heaven.
My daughter and her friends played on and around it. Of course with youthful memories of my treehouse, my mission was to sleep on it. Ronnie and I began our exploration of what bedding combination worked best. We hauled up a four inch foam pad. The memory foam was heavy but youth and determination got it up there. Laying on the platform and seeing the sky through the circle of trees was a spiritual experience. Nestled in their bosom, watching the birds, we were elevated and entranced. The sheets and blankets had mixed success. We settled on the sleeping bags zipped together. The three of us tried to sleep there with the dogs. It didn’t work for Alex. With her bedroom window open next to the treehouse, she could call to us. The dogs visited but opted for ground sentry duty. For Ronnie and I, it was another setting for our summer commitment to sleep outside.
It was a lovely spot. It did require us to decamp for rain. I hated it when we misjudged and had to haul down the bedding in the middle of the night including the unwieldy memory foam. It’s a question in my mind whether we were committed or should have been. It was a simple pleasure.
My issue was night peeing. Ronnie’s skills are excellent in squatting and aiming. Me, not so much. I’m long and tall so one would think hanging off the treehouse would be easy as Ronnie has often commented. The aiming piece is not my strength in preventing extraneous spray where it isn’t wanted. I tried to limit the surface damage to my side of the sleeping bag. It did require regular washing. This is always an issue for me when camping. I’ve never mastered rustic peeing.
Over the years, we’ve limited ourselves to sleeping on our deck. We’ve found light portable bed stands and tweaked mattress types with aging. There’s also a plastic cover stored underneath for summer rains. Our commitment to sleeping outside under summer stars has not changed. I still fondly remember the treehouses.
In her Mother’s Day card to me this year, Alex made this comment: “Thank you for teaching me how to play… The treehouse was an incredible success—more for you and Ronnie than me, but fun to build.” I may not have passed on my love of treehouses. But what higher praise than teaching my daughter to play in the world of imagination? The world desperately needs people of all ages who know how to play outside and laugh at themselves. We need celebration of the mundane. My mission is to relish it wherever I find it. Life is short. I only get one shot.
Joceile
7.4.22
[A blurred picture of Alex closing the playhouse door tucked in trees with the wooden wagon next to it on the right. Circa 1994]
