tree 20

I think I’m coming to the end of this particular story.  For nearly two years I’ve blipped this tree on the middle Wednesday of each month; almost - I missed March 2015 because we were in Australia.  

Looking back at the series, not a great deal changes with the tree itself - leaves, leaves, leaves, then branches, branches, branches …..  I had hoped/expected that during the Autumn I would get some glorious colour, other than green.  October 2015 looked much like today; a month later all the leaves had gone.

What does change - and what I had not expected - are the surroundings; long grass, short grass, flowers, no flowers.  But apart from that there’s not a lot else to see.

This particular project has served another purpose however and one that I had not intended.  It has acted as a barometer for my state of health.  I’ve mentioned before that this tree sits at the top of a long uphill drag and at times I’ve struggled to complete the walk without stopping for breath.  If there are people about I usually feign interest in a tree or plant at the side of the path and wait for them to overtake.  Today I managed without stopping.  And I realise that my motivation for this blip is as much about the journey as it is  the destination.

This morning I had company as I made my way up the slope.  At least to begin with.  For once it was not me who had to pause and I would look back from time to time to check her progress.  I was on the way back down when I met her again; she’d stopped about halfway up.  Her breathing was laboured with a sound all too familiar.  I gave her a pat and a few words of encouragement and she tottered off on tiny legs towards her owner waiting patiently further up the hill.  Is this what it was like for Anniemay when she used to come with me?

I’ll carry on with this project until the end of the year and then rethink it.   Perhaps a new tree and a new time frame.  Perhaps not.