Convent Tuesday, November 6, 2012

What a slaggard. Only a month or so back into the blogosphere and I've already missed a week.

In my defense I've been a bit busy the last few weeks, what with going away every weekend,

Halloween with the kids,















and Hurricane Sandy, which had a bit of a temper tantrum in my backyard.

Let me explain by starting with a  bit of back story. When we moved into our house thirteen years ago one of our first homeowner dilemmas we faced involved the siamese oak tree growing in the backyard. Joined at the roots, this behemouth was truly two independent trees that had decided to share a space and life together. We loved the joined trees but were concerned they might be unstable. Our dilemma was solved by an overpriced tree "expert", who looked up at the branches, pushed his baseball cap back, scratched his forehead, and declared the trees safe.

He also informed us that both trees were male, a pronouncement that made me immeasurably happy. What can be better than a backyard guarded by two mature trees in a loving gay relationship?

For thirteen years the trees and our family have shared joint ownership of our yard, and our children have grown up under their spreading branches.  Alas, this past Sunday tragedy struck, as Hurricane Sandy caused one half of the pair to completely lift up from its roots and crash to its death.


Those two creatures in the tree are LB and a friend.

Hurricane Sandy must be a religious conservative. I'm assuming she did not vote for Marriage Equality in today's election.

 But I digress. The demise of a loving tree partnership was not the end of the tragedy, as the falling oak also decimated our decrepit swing set ( unless my home insurance agent is reading this blog, in which case, er, I meant to write "brand new" swing set), took out a third of our fence, and crushed one of our bee hives.  

Little bee zombies were probably stumbling all around the yard on All Hallows Eve.

The remaining tree still stands, but is emotionally distraught, leaning listlessly to one side, and moaning quietly into the wind.

I believe it may be drinking heavily.











Today I sit at the convent, gazing at the lovely forested land around me and mourning quietly  the loss of one, and possibly two, of my long limbed friends. I will miss the gift of their shade, and the home they provided to the backyard fauna and my children as well.



Most of the trees at All Saints Convent were unaffected by the storm. Of the trees shown here, six are heterosexual.