Trees

There's been a lot of tree cutting in our area. Last year, two large trees in the lots to the east of us were taken down, one of them a huge weeping willow that Iain particularly liked. The trees looked healthy, and I was quite upset with our neighbours for removing them, but, in retrospect, I must admit that I am not a tree expert, and can't tell whether they were safe to leave up or not. We really miss them though, for their beauty but also for their shade; our house is completely exposed to the sun for much of the day as a result, and we don't have air conditioning.

Which makes the loss of the two huge silver maples on the lawn next door even harder to take. Our neighbour had the tree doctors in, and they advised her to remove them; even though they looked not bad, one of the trees was hollow, they said, and the other failing fast. So, yesterday those trees were cut down, and the space is SO EMPTY. When I look out the window, my breath catches in my throat, every time.

On a practical level, we are now presented with afternoon sun on the north side of the house. Our bedroom is going to cook. I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time in the basement, and I'm tempted to get an inflatable mattress, just in case. I absolutely refuse to have an air conditioner, as long as I can possibly avoid it.

On the bright side, our horse chestnut tree is in full bloom, and I snapped a couple of pics this morning (before the heat really gets to it).The pic on the left shows part of the lovely deck Iain built last year. Below is a closeup of part of a flower cluster.