If A Tree Falls By The Marsh, And No One Is There To Hear It...

Yesterday I was in the kitchen cooking (quiche, pasta salad, boiled shrimp). It was pleasantly cool for a change, so we had turned off the AC and opened everything up.

I had finished most of the things on my list, and the quiche was baking. After refilling my glass of ice water, I stepped out on the back porch to experience the cool outdoor air. (The kitchen tends to get swelteringly warm when I have the oven on.) The Big leafy vines of Confederate Jasmine over the porch door were as fragrant as usual, and I was taking a moment to...well, I guess you could say I was 'stopping to smell the Jasmine'. It was when I looked over to where we have our Hydrangea bushes that I noticed something was...off.

The Tidal Creek we have in back fills with each of the two daily tides. Otherwise, it's a muddy bog of reeds, stumps, and the like. The tide was out when I noticed that there were a lot more limbs sticking up from the mud than usual. On closer inspection, I saw this:

One of our big trees had fallen. We suspect that it had become rather undercut by the erosion of the widening creek bed. (Actually, I feel odd calling it a creek as it is much wider than my idea of a creek.) It was shocking to see because I hadn't heard a thing. I would think that it would have caused quite a noise when it fell over.

After the initial shock, I felt sad. Trees are one of my favorite things. I don't go around hugging them, but I have great respect for these beautiful and majestic forms of life. I have no idea what the condo 'powers that be' will do with my fallen neighbor. I expect they will dismember it to a degree, and leave the rest to incorporate with the creek.

Goodbye tree...