I've wanted to share this news for the past week, but what better day than Arbor Day to share the happy status update about Al and Jackie's critically wounded maple tree?
Many of you may remember my post about "Atlas," the devastating snowstorm that hit us in early October. It wreaked destructive havoc on the still-leafy trees with 10 inches of heavy, wet snow and high winds. In my second post about the storm, I shared a photo of the fatal-looking damage it had done to the beautiful maple tree beside the patio of our friends Al and Jackie.
Well, Jackie didn't spend a long career as a nurse for nothing, and despite some teasing and possibly some evil snickering from cynical naysayers, she convinced Al to perform emergency triage on the tree with rebar, twine and duct tape. A lot of you shared your hopes that it would work, and I promised to give you an update in the spring.
The trees here started budding recently, so I emailed Jackie last week (with some trepidation) to ask her if the maple had shown any signs of life. But here is the photo she took with her iPad to share with me the happy news!
She said that she and Al are concerned about the branch on the right, which started to bud and then seemed to stop, but that even if that branch doesn't make it they're optimistic that the tree will. So three cheers for Al and Jackie's ingenuity and hopefulness, and for their brave maple tree's tenacity! :-)
And since today is also SkyWatch Friday, I can't pass up the chance to share a photo of today's lovely sunrise. As soon as I saw it through our kitchen windows I snatched BW's iPad off the counter to capture it, knowing that by the time I fetched my camera, changed out the lens, and returned to the back patio, the colors would have faded - which they did. So I give you a little less photo quality in exchange for a lot more color!...
