Today the Tree Came Down

    After waiting weeks for the permit, the time has come for the Norway Spruce in my back yard to be brought down. I forgot to take a "before" photo but here is the progress so far.

   This is the long-awaited permit which has to be displayed prominently.

You can see Jay standing on one of the lower branches which he left as he worked up the tree.

Now he is approaching the summit. I had to leave at this point as it was beginning to look dangerous!

When I returned a couple of hours later the worst was over. They are still working on it (7:00 p.m.) and I think they will have to come back tomorrow to finish up. The mess is incredible, pine cones everywhere! I am so glad I waited until it was done to take the cover off the pool. Hopefully in the next day or two I will be able to post a photo of my reclaimed back yard.

Was it a Tornado?

    I was going to write more about my garden but we had a massive storm a few hours ago so that takes precedence. First I heard was an emergency "Take cover" message on my phone. Then the sky got really dark and the winds whipped up. The rain was torrential for a while. It was pretty spectacular!

   Everyone was out on the street after it passed over assessing the damage. One neighbour had a tree come down on his garage roof which is quite damaged. Another couple of houses lost part of their roofing. I got a small scratch on my car from flying debris but think I got off easy. I will have my handyman check my roof to make sure it is still intact.

   Before the storm I took this photo of a corner of my garden. It seems to have survived untouched, thank goodness!

     Bleeding Hearts and Violets look nice together. They have both spread from the original plants and come up faithfully every year. 

Yoga

     Since I couldn't go to my regular Thursday tennis game (it was wet anyway) I went to Yoga instead. It was a good session but, as Jai, our teacher, reminded us, once a week is really not enough to keep us supple and active. I managed to do a new exercise, full squats down and back up, which several of the class didn't manage. I think I will look for something on You Tube to do in between classes.

    The rest of the day went pretty well - it gradually dried off and warmed up as the day progressed. I got quite a bit of gardening (i.e. weeding) done before lunch and again in the afternoon and I managed to catch the itinerant tool sharpener guy as he drove down my street. Now my garden shears are super sharp and polished!

   An easy dinner tonight - leftover barbecued chicken drumsticks, just need to heat them up and cook some more veggies! A new "Death in Paradise" on TV tonight on PBS (no commercials) and "Inspector Morse" which I have probably seen before. I also have a DVD from the library as a backup. 

   And, finally, I managed both the Wordles today, so, all in all, it has been a successful day!

A Big Decision

    I have come to the conclusion that I won`t be able to play tennis for the next few weeks. The splint on my finger (unfortunately on my dominant hand) is making it too difficult to hit the ball without pain, plus it has rubbed up blisters on the adjoining fingers which will never heal if I keep playing. I am sad to let my tennis friends down but we were already missing one who is on an overseas trip and scrambling each week to find a replacement. 

    Anyone who follows my blog will know that tennis is a major part of my summer but I will just have to content myself with watching matches on TV. Also there`s lots of gardening to do (I got in some tomato and kale plants this weekend) but that is also hampered by the splint (trying to keep it clean and dry) although not as painful.

   I am trying to be philosophical about my current woes - what`s one summer out of so many I have enjoyed on the tennis courts? - but am just praying that I will be able to salvage some time later on. Wish me luck!