Gone

For maybe the last four or five years of teaching, I always drove the back road to school. It meant two or three extra miles, but with the backroad light traffic and pastoral scenery, it was easily worth the mileage. Halfway to school, and halfway home, there stood this stately, old, gnarly oak. It grew right on an S curve on quiet farmland. 

To me, this tree was an icon on my way to and from school. On the way, I looked for this oak to appear out of the fog of a winter morning. On my last year of work, I stopped by this tree on my cycling trip home. It was halfway to school, and halfway home. 

Yesterday, on the way to town, we found this old oak gone. Simply gone. I don't know if the tree was diseased, if it was about to fall. To me, it looked healthy, even in the cut branches. I won't speculate.

But I know that a welcome symbol, an ancient tree well over 100 years old is gone. I blipped it in I don't know how many pictures, but here's one:
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3951523

A couple of years ago, I took a girl's senior photos at the oak. Check it out in the extra photo.

I don't know what else to say about it. I've always loved big, old oaks, probably because I had one in my backyard growing up. I'm pretty sorry to see this one go.