Ruby Hovda

Tom, the Listening Tree Ruby Hovda

Tom, the Listening Tree is a book about a yellow maple tree that stood at the back of the patio at Serenity. Serenity is a tea house-restaurant in Zionsville, Indiana. It is in an old house that has been home to a variety of families since it was built in the 1860's. This house is the second-oldest home in Zionsville. The tea house has been in operation for more than ten years. A windstorm took the yellow maple down in October 2018. The owner of the restaurant said someone should write a book about the tree and what it has heard and seen throughout its long life. I accepted that challenge, along with my two granddaughters who have done the artwork. There were three huge unusual trees on the property that we believe surrounded the house at the time it was built. These are the yellow maple, a Norwegian weeping spruce, and a hackberry tree. The hackberry is nick-named "the GOD tree" because the letters GOD are seen in the root structure. Now we honor and remember the yellow maple in Tom, the Listening Tree.