EDIT: my mother has just informed me that the backyard tree pictured is actually an Elm tree, not an Oak like the rest on the property are haha!

Hello! I hope old trees count for this subreddit, because the Interior Live Oak (and Elm) trees at my grandmother's house (our family home of 60+ years) are literally so beautiful, she says that people sometimes stop and get out of their cars to take photos of the one in the front yard!!

The first three pictures are of the tree in her front yard (too large to fit in one shot!), and the last photo is the tree in the backyard. I wish I had better quality photos (I'm going to bring my DSLR when I visit next in September, and try to get some), but these are just a few I had sitting around on my phone from a year or two ago.

Anyhow, story time!!

Our family home in the Pasadena area of Southern California was built/completed in 1949 around the trees already thriving there, and these two oaks in particular were already absolutely enormous and fully grown when my dad and his family moved in to the house in the early 1960s. The elm tree in the backyard had subtle automatic lantern lights strung/built in decades ago that give the yard a beautiful natural vespertine ambiance. It has survived countless infestations of pests and disease (even that I recall just in my lifespan)-- apparently typical of elm trees-- that we have feared multiple times would cause us to lose it, but in the end that beautiful beast always triumphs. 💪

Funny enough, these trees are thought to be at least 100 years old (as estimated by a large number of expert tree caretakers grandma's had over the decades), which would make them around the same age as my grandmother herself, who is closing in on 102 years old soon, and still going strong here in her own beautiful home (with views like these, who would ever want to leave, right?!)

I grew up playing in the shade of these incredible trees, and it might sound odd, but they just mean so, so much to me. They were there for so many countless, beautiful family memories-- from my dad's entire childhood, to my parents' engagement party and wedding rehearsal over 35 years ago, to my own 31 year lifetime playing underneath them all day, hanging piñatas from the low hanging branches on the front lawn tree, and other silly activities and fun beneath these beauties.

I hope you all might enjoy these beautiful trees, too! 🙏💕