A faux bois picnic basket in my garden. They are busy spreading rather than blooming.
On Saturday night a huge storm hit my city. The sound and the lightening
told me this was going to be serious. Straight line winds wreaked havoc on my
neighborhood & city again!
Again... Sky over a house that used to have huge trees all around and behind it.
When I moved here 20 plus years ago it was like living in a forest of
enormous very old oak trees. Finding a place to plant something that needed sun
was difficult.
In 2003 another storm ripped through the city. The destruction was
devastating, thousands of trees fell. It was heartbreaking. They fell on houses
cutting them in two all around me. The whole city came to a standstill. I had
no power to my house for three weeks in July. That is when the
temperatures usually range from 90 to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit . There was no
getting out by car or on foot because hundreds of trees blocked the streets. I
was so happy to see the firemen. They knocked on every door to see if anyone
needed help. For weeks and weeks all I heard were chainsaws and chippers. I was
lucky my house was not badly hurt. My poor neighbors were not so lucky. Most of
them had to move out for as long as two years while the repairs were made. Blue
tarps covered most of the rooftops.
So you might understand why I cringed when the chainsaws started here on
Sunday morning. I am still hearing them and the chippers that they feed huge
limbs into.
Today I got out and walked around my neighborhood. I was a little wary
because big limbs are still dangling from huge trees that managed to stand. I was
happy to see most of the houses were OK.
My neighborhood of 300 homes was built around this private
lake & park. Most of the houses were built in the 1920's.
