too much snow . .
sadly, it was too much snow for our pine tree in the courtyard. last night i was sitting in bed finishing janet's mitten for her birthday the next day, when i heard a low and long creaking groan from outside. i got up and peered out the window, but couldn't see any branches that may have fallen. i thought it was our mulberry trees. i got back into bed and began knitting again. about 30 to 45 minutes later, i heard another low creaking groan. again, i got up and peered out the window. again, i couldn't see anything. i sighed, and got back into bed and continued on the mitten until i finished the thumb. then i went to sleep. in the morning i woke to the above scene outside our windows.
if you look carefully in the photo above, you can see the pine branches laying down on the bottom left side. i didn't notice this when i took the picture. in fact, when morgana woke, i whispered (korrina was till sleeping) "look out the windows!" (thinking to myself, "oh it's so beautiful outside, she's going to love the white winter wonderland scene.") (i had been at my desk, on the computer, publishing the prior post about the gorgeous snowy scene outside our windows.) morgana is the one who observed, "the tree is down. the pine tree split. it had two sections, and they're both down." morgana, chanda, and i quickly dressed and ran downstairs.
chanda was in tears.
i am too, writing this. i didn't cry at the time, not wanting to heighten the sadness for chanda. but, our trees in the courtyard are so precious to many of us. they are food and housing for the birds. they are a screen and comfort to us as we look out our windows and across to the apartments on the other side of our courtyard. they are living, breathing plants that help keep our earth beautiful and full of oxygen for all of us.
i just don't understand why it had to happen.
it feels so unfair. the city is full of concrete and steel and brick. why must we lose our trees?
our coop board is not easy to deal with. i think it would be beneficial to take the stump out, but i really don't think the board will allow the expense. a new tree can be planted, but for us on the upper floors, we may never have the privilege of looking out onto the tops of a tree again. it depends on how fast growing the tree is . . and how large it is when planted. having been on the gardening committee in the past, i know that many residents do not favor large, fast growing trees!
it was not all tears for chanda. thank goodness. she and morgana had a sweet time playing amidst the fallen branches.
they created a kitchen, living rooms and bedroom. 
i remember lying in the snow as a child . . looking up at the snow on the pine branches. my girls have climbed this tree. it was a living, breathing friend to them. good-bye pine tree. we'll miss you terribly.
sadly, it was too much snow for our pine tree in the courtyard. last night i was sitting in bed finishing janet's mitten for her birthday the next day, when i heard a low and long creaking groan from outside. i got up and peered out the window, but couldn't see any branches that may have fallen. i thought it was our mulberry trees. i got back into bed and began knitting again. about 30 to 45 minutes later, i heard another low creaking groan. again, i got up and peered out the window. again, i couldn't see anything. i sighed, and got back into bed and continued on the mitten until i finished the thumb. then i went to sleep. in the morning i woke to the above scene outside our windows.
if you look carefully in the photo above, you can see the pine branches laying down on the bottom left side. i didn't notice this when i took the picture. in fact, when morgana woke, i whispered (korrina was till sleeping) "look out the windows!" (thinking to myself, "oh it's so beautiful outside, she's going to love the white winter wonderland scene.") (i had been at my desk, on the computer, publishing the prior post about the gorgeous snowy scene outside our windows.) morgana is the one who observed, "the tree is down. the pine tree split. it had two sections, and they're both down." morgana, chanda, and i quickly dressed and ran downstairs.
chanda was in tears.
i am too, writing this. i didn't cry at the time, not wanting to heighten the sadness for chanda. but, our trees in the courtyard are so precious to many of us. they are food and housing for the birds. they are a screen and comfort to us as we look out our windows and across to the apartments on the other side of our courtyard. they are living, breathing plants that help keep our earth beautiful and full of oxygen for all of us.
i just don't understand why it had to happen.
it feels so unfair. the city is full of concrete and steel and brick. why must we lose our trees?
our coop board is not easy to deal with. i think it would be beneficial to take the stump out, but i really don't think the board will allow the expense. a new tree can be planted, but for us on the upper floors, we may never have the privilege of looking out onto the tops of a tree again. it depends on how fast growing the tree is . . and how large it is when planted. having been on the gardening committee in the past, i know that many residents do not favor large, fast growing trees!
it was not all tears for chanda. thank goodness. she and morgana had a sweet time playing amidst the fallen branches.
they created a kitchen, living rooms and bedroom. 
i remember lying in the snow as a child . . looking up at the snow on the pine branches. my girls have climbed this tree. it was a living, breathing friend to them. good-bye pine tree. we'll miss you terribly.
That's so sad, I didn't know that pine trees were so fragile. I think that they normally withstand the cold very well. Was the tree maybe sick?
ReplyDeleteWe had some pine trees close to our college campus and the children always liked to collect the cones, but a few weeks ago, the college cut them all down. We have plenty of trees around, but we were very sad to see them being cut down and don't understand the purpose of this.
hello eva, i wonder if the soil in the courtyard wasn't good. we are on landfill, and i wonder if that has anything to do with how deep the roots were able to go, and the quality of the earth. i would have to do more research into conifers to see what they need for healthy growth.
ReplyDeletei'm sorry to hear about the pine trees on your college campus. unfortunately, the majority of americans don't seem to respect the plant life of our world. most americans seem to think they can just cut and slash at anything in their way. college administrations don't always consider the quality of life in the community. at least that's what it seems like to us. we live with new york university in greenwich village. the greenwich village historic preservation society, and other community groups, are constantly battling nyu's expansion plans. residents uptown near columbia university also have this problem. the colleges continually want to impede the common good by taking over apartment buildings, knocking down historic buildings, and raising buildings that residents feel are too large and rise to high for the neighborhood. emphasis is placed on "more" and "bigger." there is no sense of stabilization. so i'm not surprised to hear that your college just . . cut down a bunch of pine trees for seemingly no reason at all. i'm not sure what department one could check with about the decision. maybe they plan to put a new building up?
when you mentioned that germany banned the salt on the pavements, i realized that they are working with a very different ethical view of the community.
So sad about your tree...
ReplyDeletePines don't like the wind either - we had one blown down in our yard.
glad the girls at least enjoyed playing in it.
thanks, grace. i always considered pines more flexible and sturdy . . maybe some just have a certain life span . . something one may not notice when there are many trees around, but which is glaring when there are so few.
ReplyDeleteIt must be strange to live on a former landfill. Do you know what was dumped there? Even out here we have some toxic waste sites that need to be cleaned up . . .
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that there is a historic preservation society in your part of the city. It's so sad when people want to destroy the old buildings and build "better" ones! Many times you can preserve old buildings, but still modernize them.
Where they cut down our trees is not a good place to build anything new. There is a creek, there are a few apartment buildings for students, and a parking-lot for students. The trees were bordering the parking-lot and gave some shade! I always think that American parking-lots need more trees and not fewer!
I do think there is a higher awareness throughout of Europe about preserving the community and also the environment. Our college has started a "natural center," which tries to educate people about recycling, reusing, etc. All the topics addressed were discussed and introduced in Germany in the early 80's!
hello eva, we visited a wonderful architect's studio last year, who worked on preserving old buildings in the city.
ReplyDeletethere is a much higher awareness in europe . . a maturity america just doesn't have at this time.