Down

I am finally ready to blog about my lack of posts in October. I was down - very down. Why? Because, all of my trees are down as well. I had them all cut down and as they came down I realized I am my mother in so many ways.

These are some before shots:

The Mulberry & Pine

The Ash

The Palm

When I was a child, we had a very large yard with 23 pine trees and a huge oak. And my mother had them all cut down. She had her reasons. Too close to the house; too close to the garden; too many leaves, etc.

I loved my trees and reveled in the privacy they provided. But there was something wrong with each one. The mulberry was growing between too fences and knocking down both. The pine was destroying my phone lines. (Since it came down, I've had the best phone service I've had in eight years!)

The ash near the shop was placed on the ground next to a fence in a nursery bucket. My BFF and I tried valiantly to dig it up to transplant to her house eight years ago to no avail; the tap root and grown straight down through the bucket and it was in the ground firm. It was leaning on the fence and it was only a few feet from my office.

And finally, the little palm on the west side of the pool was growing around power lines. What kind of jackass plants a tree under power lines on purpose? (The previous owners.)

When the workmen left, I felt such a wave of emotion and vulnerability. I didn't realize how secluded I felt. I didn't realize how many of my across-the-canal neighbors burn porch lights all night long!

And I felt sad. That mulberry was Maggie's tree. She would lie in it's shade and dare a squirrel to eat its fruit! Even when she was dying, she had spend a few minutes under that tree. I couldn't look at it without thinking of her. Now that it's gone, it's like I've lost Maggie all over again!

And finding something to grow there is a whole other story.

During the slaughter