Pete Sarsfield paints his stories in the words of a true traveler. As a community physician in remote and northern areas for almost 25 years, Sarsfield looks at the people and the landscape of his world with an insight that borders on the poetic.

The genesis of Stand the Sacred Tree was in Weier’s previous memoir Marshwalker (page 32)—it grew out of the questions he explored and the opportunities that were represented. Weier traveled widely—Syria, Iceland, Holland, Denmark, and Canada—and wondered at what—if anything—connects these places and their diverse landscapes and cultures. Icelandic horses to Syrian cab drivers. And of course birds, he never stops thinking of birds. What he discovers is people obsessed with place, with travel; each destination, each trip without exception leading to another. Each new landscape brings new exotic birds and flowers, new friends. Yet everywhere there is always something haunting and familiar.