a very tall tree gone

was one of the tallest trees in my little backyard forest

I love a stormy day, however, yesterday's grey & rainy day soon escalated into near hurricane type weather. The dogs and I took a quick trip to the beach in heavy drizzle and high winds and by the time we reached the end of the grass lane and arrived at the edge of the back shore beach it was wild. High tide and huge muddy breakers crashing almost at the grass (the water almost never comes up that high). So windy we could barely stand. Quite scary really. So...we turned and ran back up the lane and back to the safety & comfort of my car. The high winds continued all morning with lots of power flickers...nerve wracking wind. I was on the phone speaking with Harry (on his way to TO) when I heard the crack- that awful tree cracking sound. Told him I'd call back and rushed outside (without my glasses). All morning I had been particularly worried about a beautiful linden tree in my front yard that split almost in two in a winter wind storm. The other half seems to be hanging in there and thankfully, this morning, it was still standing. Moving into the back yard I spied what had made the awful crack. A beautiful tall tree, lying horizontally, nestled between my two tall blue spruce trees and my house - no real damage to anything. I had noticed earlier this year that this particular tree, which shades Em's grave, had a big crack up the side, the inside of this crack was soft & pulpy. The tree was rotting & dying from the ground up ... so in a way ... it's probably a good thing that it came down. It's just so sad to lose a tree and you always wonder if you could have done something earlier to save it. I've decided to wait until Monday or Sunday or some other day to call someone with a chain saw. Now it has to be chopped up & removed from my yard...

The lunch yesterday was tolerable...way too many people for me...not my cup of tea at all, and my tour guide duties and lemonade serving were cancelled due to weather.