In Our Neck of the Woods.....
Our neck of the woods is going to have a new landscape? Definitely.
It was unbelievable.
This may sound crazy to some folks, but I believe a few will nod their heads, in a knowing way... but I've always been able to 'hear' trees. From the time I was a wee lass I've had conversations with the trees and let me tell you, they've all been great, the trees and our conversations.
The wee hours of that Monday morning I was in a sound sleep when 'something' woke me up, Bobby was already awake, listening, he thought either someone broke into the house or Smooch had knocked something over but in reality the trees were falling apart.
We got up, took a look out back, holy shit. I'm sparing you the photos in this post but seriously, the whole back yard was FULL of big limbs, branches, etc.
We looked out front but it didn't really look that bad..... yet.
We had our coffee and some breakfast and decided to start on the front in that there wasn't much there, right? Our neighbor to the west, John, was out in their front yard, chain saw in hand, their beautiful Bradford pear tree... half of it was down. I went over and helped him haul the branches to the curb but the whole time we're out there I could hear the trees. Moaning and groaning, little cracks could be heard then the BIG CRACK and WHOOSH CRASH all.over.the.neighborhood. Transformers were blowing all over the place and of course the one in our backyard blew sending us into the land of no power.
We went back inside, clearly it wasn't safe to be out with the trees, they just kept falling apart and it hurt. I sat by the front windows, best light that could be found and tried to knit but I could hear them out there. I shed some tears.
Bobby cannot sit still under those kind of circumstances... he paces... he lit the fireplace which as the house cooled down did a great job taking the chill off in that room, and we were lucky too, gas range to cook on, gas water heater for hot water to bathe in...
Tuesday we went and got our generator from his sisters house... she didn't have power but she didn't want to 'mess' with the generator... we hauled it home and hooked it up, ran a line to John and Paula next door, they have two boys, so we did have some heat, the fridge was humming along and my lamp by my knitting chair was on so I just hunkered in and knit.
These are for the Soaring Eagles Project. Rachel will be coming to Tulsa at which point we'll meet up for the hand-over.
I also made myself a Calorimetry, the colours are much richer up close and personal and it's very soft and warm and SO functional!
Outside of that mitten knitten'... a tremendous amount of energy has been spent clearing and cleaning up the yard, there are still HUGE limbs hung up in the water-oak in the front yard, the breaks need cleaning up in all the trees but I won't get back to it until after the holidays...
Ms.K, this one's for you....
Gretchen? This one's for you.....
The holidays? Yes.
Happy Winter Solstice to All!
I'm nearly finished with Gracie mittens, next up are Conor mittens... I really need to knit Avery a hat but I also have a bit of gift baking to do this weekend and that.will.be.it. I'm not going 'out there'.... am.not.
Family will gather Christmas Eve for dinner, good stories, and the little ones opening some gifts... Christmas day gathering at Bobby's folks for dinner and we're calling it Good.
I thank everyone for warm thoughts sent our way, brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion, appreciated every single one. I'm still trying to catch up on all the blogs... and email...
Took this quiz and got this result... heh. (not so 'secret',eh?)
| You Are a Yule Log |
 While you do have holiday spirit, you have a secret, heathen past. |
Happy Knitting to All and continue making good time.
posted by Marianne at 12/21/2007 06:19:00 AM
21 Comments:
Oh Marianne. I'm so sorry to hear about your broken trees. When we had that big ice storm 10 years (!) ago the little forest behind our house suffered terribly in the same way. But it survived in its scraggly way until last year when every last tree was cut down for a new housing development. I miss them terribly. The silence is deafening.
Nevertheless, happy holidays to you and yours. Stay warm.
Oh that brings back sad memories of the infamous hurricane of 1987 . Britain lost so many trees but I remember one of the men at work nearly in tears because the 500 year old walnut tree in his village had come down. This year the churhyard in our town centre had to cut down two very old trees because of some sort of rot. The soldiers supporting King James 11 had used them as vantage points . The "Glorious Revolution" was in 1688 and they were big then.The view as you walk into the main part of town just looks all wrong . Happy Christmas to you allxxxangie , Jeff and Holly.
It's heartbreak when you lose even one tree, but so many - it's so sad. You will have to concentrate on the kind of little trees you are going to plant to replace them. And you did the right thing by sitting and knitting - that's such a positive and creative way to deal with the distress. Blessings of Midwinter to you and yours.
I'm glad you are keeping well - wow, sounds like quite some adventures out your way. The mitten knitting is a great accomplishment! I hope you have a great holiday season too, with lots more warm snuggling and knitting :)
I am so sorry you went through that. I cannot begin to imagine how painful it was to sit there and just have to endure because there were no other choices.
I really like what Jo wrote, "concentrate on kind of little trees you are going to plant." Nothing will replace the originals, but the new ones will honor their memory.
In spite of all of this, I do hope you have a very happy holiday! Your mittens are lovely and you are most definitely a "yule log." ;) Love ya!
Oh Marianne and Bobby, I am so sorry for you losing the trees. As Jo so wisely said, think of the ones you will put in their place.they won't take their place in your heart Marianne but they will help somewhat Midwinter blessings to you both and thank you for your company throughout this year
love Amber and Mr Mog
Oh, the poor trees! I have been thinking about you and wondering if you got hit by the ice. I missed "seeing" you around, but didn't know about the messy weather until later (I am pretty unplugged from the news...if it's major or local, I hear about it from KittyDaddy, otherwise I may or may not trip over tidbits in the blogosphere). I'm glad to hear that the people and furry people weathered the storm, though.
Happy Solstice and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
Life, death, and broken trees. It's all a part of the great circle, but it still hurts. *hugs* But new life always springs where death occurs. :) There will be new trees to whisper to you.
Have a beautiful Christmas and keep warm!
Oh, Marianne, so sad about the trees. Trees have always been the most faithful friends, the most rejuvenating companions. To lose them.... sigh.
You've been very busy with the knitting! I am feeling the urge to knit, but have no inspiration of where to start. I want something simple, and relatively small, but don't know what to do. :0)
what a scary thing! poor trees. tell them i am sorry.
i will be happy to join you in your hole, i am glad there is space for me! happy, merry christmas to you and yours.
I am sorry for your tree loss - I love trees too!
A beautiful display of Soaring Eagles mittens!
I'm glad you are back...and I'm so sorry about the loss of your trees. I guess you had LOTS of time for knitting!
Just the thought of all those trees makes me all teary eyed...
So sad for your losses but so happy you and your family remained safe and are ok..there will be more trees..
Happy Solstice ..muchas smoochas
Who is this 'Adam' he seems to be visiting us all! anyway medearest...so sorry to hear about the trees, but glad to hear you all made it through unscathed, and managed a bit of knitting too!
xoxox
It's hard to explain that sound, the sound of the trees breaking. I don't think I want to hear that again. I hope you and your family have the happiest of holidays.
I'm so sorry to hear about your trees. Don't they look so forlorn in that condition.
I will tell you though ... it DOES get somewhat better with time. But, it takes a lot of time. The trees will regrow or new landscape options will appear.
Wishing you a blessed holiday and a much better 2008 with NO MORE ICE STORMS!
Oh, heck yeah, some people can hear the trees and plants and such. They give off their own energy - just most people aren't tuned into it. I am not one of the folks who can "hear" it/ But sometimes I pick up on trees unhappiness. A few months ago I offhandedly remarked that our big evergreen tree outside wasn't happy. A couple of weeks later it began to shower my poor car with tree sap.
But my poor brain is really tuned into other weird signals. I work for Radiology, and oddly enough, my brain doesn't like x-rays. Dental x-rays make me dizzy and cross-eyed, lol. High electromagnetic exposure makes me sick after a while. Short bursts just make me periodically dizzy.
I lived in Jersey, Channel Islands in 1987, the year of the storm, the island lost about 70% of it's trees if my memory is correct. Even though I was young then, I remember the sadness and the aftermath of the scary night of those terrible winds, it is very sad when trees are lost. Love the photo with the cropped fringe in it....that Gracie, she's a pickle! So pretty though! Merry Christmas!
It is so sad about your trees and having to just listen, but, as all have said before, plan new trees, there'll be time in the spring to do THAT work. I'm glad your focusing on yourself and your family and the hell with the rest. It'll keep. Happy Solstice.
(BTW, thanks for the bangs picture - I smiled big!)
Oh, it just kills me to hear about the trees. I do know exactly what you mean about them; it hurts to hear them break, no? I'm so sorry you had to go through that!
Turns out, I'm a Yule Log, too. Why does this come as no surprise? Happy holidays :)
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