Wood Water Garden

Rising from bed with the flush of flu and glancing out the window at falling snow covering already covered trees, branches, and street,I notice for the first time a pale brown gash in the oak tree across the street, more than a foot wide. Nothing too strange, but what a relief! They have finally done it - removed the heavy branch that overhung the road and the entrance to my driveway. We just had heavy snow and ice, and now more snow. Was it a year ago that I started calling the city's forestry department and the electricity company to try to have the dead branches removed. Not only did they remove those branches, just in time I think, but they took off the entire limb. How often I had imagined children, dogs, dog walkers (notice the order of importance)and cars being smashed by those decayed branches falling. And just when I was not noticing, somebody removed the entire limb. It might even have been the homeowner whose backyard the tree resides in. Now, if I can only get the cit...

First all-day snowfall of the year - steady falling, silent snow. Things look quiet, clean, and calm outside, and a bird or two has found a perch on the bare branches of the cherry tree out back. With a soft red sofa, two good books in hand, and holiday music in the background, it's possible for a while to forget the current craziness of a downspiraling economy, looming layoffs, and uncertainty in the future. One reason to like the change of seasons - the first calming snow of the year.