Tree Trimmer

We had two trees on our small Berkeley lot, a dwarf apple tree in the front and a weeping cherry in the back. The apple required pruning every year but John could do it himself, for many years without a ladder. The weeping cherry was achieved by cutting off the crown of a dwarf cherry and grafting it onto the trunk upside down. It never got taller than me and required nothing of us, except to admire it all the time, especially when it bloomed.

When we moved here there were trees everywhere. We could actually use more shade over our outdoor living spaces, but the majority of our trees are outside the fire defense perimeter and all of them are on a hill. We lost several big ones in the fire but still have plenty that need regular maintenance by someone who knows what they're doing.

After several false starts we finally found a really good tree service. They cut down several burned oak trees and cut off burned branches from a lot of others. We were pleased that they were still in business when we called them yesterday. Better yet they came by yesterday, looked at the three live oaks on our front 'lawn' and came this morning at 8am to thin them out. I always marvel at their skill and agility. 

When they came last time they cut a very large branch off a tree which was splitting and causing a crack in the trunk. A previous tree guy tied the branch to another branch in hopes of lessening the crack. When these guys cut off the branch they left the rope hanging from the tree. It drove me slightly crazy for years and I reminded John to ask them to take the rope down. I heard John saying it didn't bother him but his wife wanted it down. I could almost feel the two of them rolling their eyes in manly agreement over the silliness of women. But they took the rope down and gave it to John...

Drawing lesson with Janet today. We drew peppers and lemons and she regaled me with stories of her time in the Air Force. We also discussed the state of the union...mainly from the election point of view and the fact that the front running Republican has been indicted and charged  with something like 93 separate crimes, some of them felonies...the heartbreaking situation in Lahaina, and the fact that they seemed as unprepared for that fire as we were for the Tubbs fire almost 6 years ago.
We've learned a lot since then, but the message doesn't seem to have crossed the Pacific. Lahaina was a tourist town but the local residents were not wealthy and their town and livelihoods are now gone. Santa Rosa has mobilized to send massive amounts of aid. And the message that hard as it is to get your head around that kind of devastation, especially when it it is happening to you, that they will recover. That everyone will have a story, and although they are all different, they will come together through their common experience of loss and fear and grief and learn something from it. And that they have a community here that understands what they are going through.