Branching

1) I came home on Tuesday to the sound of chainsaws in the yard behind me. The neighbor’s gardeners were chopping down all the pepper trees along our fence line! Sanctuaries for untold numbers of finches, mockingbirds, hummingbirds, plus other species I can’t yet identify. Shelter against the blazing heat of summer and the encroachment of suburbia. *weeps*

As I watched them hack away at the tree branches, I felt my own habitat being diminished. I panicked. I called my sister, crying. Then I sobbed on the phone to my husband. But at some point, I shook myself by the shoulders. If you don’t voice your concerns to the right person, I said to me, you have no right to complain. None whatsoever.

So! I grabbed an armful of refrigerated water bottles, slid into my flip-flops, and hurried over to the neighbor’s house. I begged, cajoled and pleaded…on behalf of the trees, the birds, and the environment (natural and man-made). And in the end, he relented. *good graces all around.* Sadly, the gardeners had already chopped back most branches to the trunk. But the homeowner agreed to leave it at that. And since pepper trees are hardy, prolific and fast-growing, the damage will (crossed fingers!) ultimately be undone. 

Hope survives. It always does, in one form or another. This time, it takes the shape of a mockingbird, who this very morning is perched in the highest remaining limb of a pepper tree, singing its little heart out. Hope, the thing with feathers. When we look for it, we find it. 

2) My story took yet another surprising turn, leading me to another mysterious branching of my family tree. I can’t say more than that right now, other than that I’m playing Nancy Drew today, and I’m (re)learning another life lesson in the process. To wit: We typically see what we want to see, discover what we expect to find. But as we learn to detach from expectations, we expand our vision…and that, I believe, adds new dimensions to our writing.

Mockingbird image credit: Duncraft

    • I love trees, and I struggle mightily to understand people who treat Mother Nature like this. My heart ached when I saw the bird habitat being destroyed with that chainsaw! SO like you, I was relieved that my neighbor was willing to compromise.

  5. Good for you for stepping out and saying something! That’s fantastic.

    And I’ve been poking about in my family tree, but for totally different reasons. 😉 that learning to see from different expectations is a great thing.

    • It’s not always easy, but I think we have to speak up for Mother Nature…if we don’t, who will?

      Cool that you’re exploring your heritage. Happy sleuthing! 🙂

  6. Good for you for stepping out and saying something! That’s fantastic.

    And I’ve been poking about in my family tree, but for totally different reasons. 😉 that learning to see from different expectations is a great thing.

  9. Good for you for speaking up! People don’t realize how much a mature tree can add to the yard.

    I’ve been thinking of you but have not had time to write later.

    • I know, right? You of all people understand the value/importance of indigenous trees to our ecosystem. I was crushed when I saw the chainsaws, but I’m glad I mustered the courage to speak up. Never know until you try…

      • 🙂 I hate to crush you in any way but the pepper tree is not a California native. It’s actual a native from Peru that was introduced to California and has naturalized. But there are a great many mature non-native trees that provide habitat to our local critters and are not overly invasive/harmful to our environment. Cutting down several mature trees with nothing else to replace them can be environmentally damaging as well as soul dampening.

  10. Good for you for speaking up! People don’t realize how much a mature tree can add to the yard.

    I’ve been thinking of you but have not had time to write later.

  11. I’m SO glad you helped save those trees! Was your neighbor just cutting them down for no good reason? I cringe at the sound of chain saws around here. When they built the development adjacent to us, I had to watch them fell untold number of trees to make room for houses that were much to close to ours. We lost our solitude that day and much of our privacy, not to mention the poor animals losing their habitat.

    • They are planted on a hillside, and he worried that they’d come down when the Santa Anas get to blowin’. But I’m here to tell you, those pepper trees have root systems from here to the middle of Nebraska. Nothing short of a chainsaw massacre will knock them down!

      I’m so, so sorry to hear about the trees you lost to that nearby development!!! The ripple effects are enormous, aren’t they? *weeps with you*

  12. I’m SO glad you helped save those trees! Was your neighbor just cutting them down for no good reason? I cringe at the sound of chain saws around here. When they built the development adjacent to us, I had to watch them fell untold number of trees to make room for houses that were much to close to ours. We lost our solitude that day and much of our privacy, not to mention the poor animals losing their habitat.

  17. You know the poem by John Donne, “Every man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind”? That’s how I feel whenever someone chops down a tree or thoughtlessly kills something. People stomp through life leaving destruction in their wake when, with just a little thought, they could promote an oasis instead. Bless you for speaking up

      • I love that you had the courage and wisdom to speak to the right person, as you say. Love how that changed everything.

        And good luck with the twists, turns, flooding and necessary dams in reworking your story.

        • Thank you, Jeannine.

          I am so looking forward to reading your book! As you might remember from my post on St. Patrick’s Day last year, I learned only recently that I have a borrowed name, too.

  18. I’m impressed by your bravery and so glad you spoke up. How wonderful for all the birds!

    Hi by the way–I’ve enjoyed your journal every time I’ve come to visit, and I’ve been meaning to come and friend you, and well, here I am!

    • Thank you for the lovely comment! It’s nice to know so many people appreciate our feathered friends.

      (Thanks also for welcoming me into your circle of LJ friends.)

    • Urgh. *weeps with you*

      Have you seen Michael Jackson’s movie, THIS IS IT? The scene with the bulldozer aptly describes the encroachment of civilization on Mother Nature, the wanton destruction of her precious resources. It’s tragic.

      • It is tragic, and unnecessary. In this case a LOT of those trees could have been left. Instead, the neighbor behind me now has a HUUUUGE yard leading right up to mine, and they NEVER NEVER use it.

        I like to send Eli over occasionally to take a dump. 😉

    • I know how you feel…we used to have farmland with pastures and Holsteins(Ben & Jerry cows) dotting the hillsides and now we have malls and condo’s everywhere you look

  21. I am so glad that you had the courage to speak out about cutting down the trees. They do the same thing here and I HATE to watch all the trees being cut down and farmland destroyed in order to make way for malls and condos… which we DON’T need!! Then the people wonder why they have problems with coyotes and black bears Well, duh…you just took away their habitat.

    People are soooo STUPID!!

    Listen to all the teachers in the woods. Watch the trees, the animals and all the living things–you’ll learn more from them than books.
    ~Joe Coyhis~

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