In which the tree comes down and Scaramouche needs to start telling me stuff....

Not the usual view from the window this morning....

Along with the dead tree, the other trees in the front yard needed some attention. Dead branches removed, a couple of limbs overhanging the house trimmed back, that sort of thing.

Not fun for a deva who works with plants to watch, though, even though it was all needed for the health of the trees.

"It's like watching surgery," Aura said. "But you can tell they're feeling better." She looked around. "I warned them what to expect, so it's not as bad. But still not pleasant."

Here's what it looks like without that tree. There's still a nasty tangle of brush to contend with - this looks like a wilderness, but it's actually where the hedge overgrew into the old lily garden.

"Aura, you're going to have to show me what to do with this. I don't want to just go in and start cutting stuff," Maddy said.

"Why is there so much barberry?" Aura said, looking around.

"It spreads. I think they've classified it as invasive."

"No, I mean, why so much barberry in the first place?" (For those not familiar with barberry, it's attractive, but it gets out of control. And it has thorns. Lots and lots of thorns....)

"My father planted it. Remember, ninety-nine percent of what grows in the yard was his doing. And he didn't always have good judgement in matters of the garden."

"It's a nice plant, but it doesn't really belong here. And it's not very welcoming with all the thorns."

"That was why he planted it. He used to say it was to keep people out. What people, I don't know."

~*~

Aura was happy to see the twin oaks doing well after their trimming.

"Solid and healthy," she said. "You don't usually see that in trees like these."

"Trees? So it is two?" Maddy said.

Aura nodded. "They're two separate trees that, instead of one choking out the other, grew together. If you really look closely at the base, you can see they have two separate trunks instead of a fork. An oak that forked this far down would never have survived."

This is the bottom of the trunk, by the way.

And this is looking up.

















~*~

These are more my style, for obvious reasons.

"If it weren't for al the noise from the trucks, you'd think this was Bearsville," Scaramouche said.

"You were up there?" I said.

"Yeah. I went up there with the New York Dolls when they recorded up there. First time I'd been out of the city. I can see why your guy fell so hard for it."

"My guy?"

"Yeah, John Ashton." She looked around. "I was hanging around there when they were recording Forever Now. They were so cute. I don't think any of them had ever been out of London for any length of time and here they were out in the country."

"You met them?" She really needs to, like TELL me stuff like this.

"Yeah. They're all really nice, although I don't think poor John realized he wasn't seeing me because he was drunk. He was kind of a mess in those days. Sweet, but kind of a mess. He got it together, though. They all did. I have to show you a picture one of their friends took of John and Charlotte, my salamander."

Okay, I need to get some stories out of this girl. Like, a lot of stories.....