Here's some amusing graffiti I found on my walk to work yesterday morning. The note beside the drawing says, "To you who prefer a blank wall, I pity you."
We had some excitement yesterday morning. One of the old elder trees in the back of our garden -- which you may remember I went through a lot of stress to have trimmed a couple of years ago -- broke off and collapsed onto the back garden wall. I have no idea when this happened. I was out in the garden yesterday morning, but it's possible that I just didn't notice it. Anyway, while I was at work I got a text about it from the caretaker of the apartments behind us, and I told him we'd report it and I'd try to get it taken care of as soon as possible.
The branch is too big for us to remove ourselves -- we'd need a chainsaw, for one thing -- so the management company will have to handle it. I'm sure the apartment caretaker is annoyed because this is exactly what he was concerned about when he pressured us to have those trees trimmed.
Oh well. I did my best, and meanwhile the birds and other critters got to enjoy it for two more years.
Speaking of trees, remember when Dave and I went to Penzance last October? We went to the Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, a forested ravine full of artworks and lush plantings, and we had a view of St. Michael's Mount off the coast. Well, apparently that area got decimated when Storm Goretti passed through last week. St. Michael's Mount lost 80 percent of its trees, and the sculpture garden lost many too. They had 112 mph winds!
I don't think Storm Goretti is responsible for our tree falling. I think I'd have noticed it before now if it happened last week, but I could be wrong.
Apropos of nothing, here are a few more photos from yesterday. First, I found these little handmade pottery vessels sitting on a garden wall, waiting for someone to adopt them. I left them there because I was headed to work, and they were gone when I passed that evening, so someone took them home.
Here's a fun pillow in the window of a futon store on Finchley Road...
...and a mysterious critter in the Lost & Found at school. (I think it's a hat?)
Yesterday I spent an hour in a meeting with my department to choose our final statement of purpose. Remember how I went to a meeting several weeks ago to help wordsmith that? Well, this time we were presented with two options and asked to choose the one we preferred. They were both very similar, and I still struggle with the need for a statement of purpose anyway. As I told my co-worker, yesterday's exercise was like being asked whether I preferred a white marshmallow or an ivory-colored one. Ultimately, we all chose the same option, which made the meeting easier than it might have been, I suppose.
I also got two Christmas cards in the mail last night, including one from former blogger Vivian, who painted Olga's portrait several years back. She mailed her card a month ago and it's only just now arrived -- but nonetheless we appreciate the thought, Vivian!
Elder trees do get brittle as they age. Like fuschias you can cut them back hard and they will regrow.
ReplyDeleteIf you are thinking of food for the birds judicious trimming is useful, and stops them being "leggy" so more shelter...and you get fruit on wood that is two years old or older
That's rather sad about what happened at the sculpture garden.
ReplyDeleteRoyal Mail seems to be doing as well as Australia Post, not well at all.
Farmers didn't like to have an Elder in their hedges as the are so easily broken and left a gap for animals to get out .
ReplyDeleteI love them as they protect from witches!!
I heard about the 80% trees gone - that is so sad.
That fox does look like a hat. Sorry about the tree branch and the trouble now needed to cut it up and dispose of it.
ReplyDeleteI have just watched a news video about those trees. Looks terrible.
ReplyDeleteTree's here are all OK, it is so sad to lose so many trees in one go, hopefully some will be replaced.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the purpose of a library?
ReplyDeletea) A place where you go to talk with your mates at lunchtime.
b) Where you go when you want to play the fun game of "Bate the Librarian".
c) A sanctuary from the hullabaloo in the rest of the school.
d) Somewhere where you can snack or chew gum.
e) A place where the Head Librarian can write endless drafts of the library's mission statement and hold a string of meetings about it before rewriting it a year later.
A mission statement for a school library is a bit much in my opinion. A waste of time and resources that will make no difference in operations. In terms of graffiti, I do tend to prefer a blank wall, but no this time. I would have lugged those pottery vessels to work with me. Surprised? A shame about the tree. Hope the caretaker doesn’t give you a headache about it. How awful about the damage done by Goretti.
ReplyDeleteOnce many years ago, our daughter had just been picked up by the bus and I was still standing at the head of our driveway when the tree between me and the road suddenly started cracking and the top half fell onto the end of our driveway, almost completely blocking it. It was the only time I have seen a tree spontaneously break apart in front of me. I was lucky to see it and lucky that neither my daughter or I had been underneath it at the time since she had just walked through the area once and I twice.
ReplyDeleteEvery place I have ever worked has had similar statements and I would hazard a guess that the only people who could ever recite the thing were those in management responsible for creating it.
It seems like a statement of purpose for a school library should be a no-brainer -- to promote reading for all ages, assist students in the selection of books and provide reference or resource information to help children of all ages learn how use the library as a key source for research and information. You might throw in something about education too, or media (internet) protection/search. What did you end up with?
ReplyDeleteCarson (our oldest grand, 9) would be wild about the fox hat. I want to show him your fox videos next time he visits. And that's so sad about St. Michaels Mount and Goretti. Almost a year after our up-north Michigan ice storm, much of the area hasn't recovered or been able to be cleaned up. I can't imagine what it would be like with 80 percent loss.
Oh my, 80 % of trees lost to Goretti! That's tough.
ReplyDeleteI hope your fallen tree can be removed soon and the people on the other side of the wall will be happy.
It's possible your tree got saturated and gradually started cracking from wind and rain. I've seen trees around here suddenly go down a day or two after a storm, very scary if you're near them.
ReplyDeleteAt least trees can grow again.
ReplyDeleteI got the shivers when I read about your statement of purpose business. Some clever business coach somewhere in the business coach eternity probably gets a kick out of it every time anywhere around the world a business, an institution, anything comes up and spends hours making one up before work as usual can continue.
We had to waste days on it every year and nobody had the faintest idea why.
Well Bummer , Wish I Lived Down The Street As I Definitely Would've Cleared That Tree Limb For Ya - As For The Camera Post , The Only Reason Why I Would Have Personally Resisted Is Because I Wouldn't Want That Student Turning In My Work And Passing Off As His Own - Other Than , Shoot Film For The Kid - Better Yet , Shoot Some Photos And Share With His Classmates In The Classroom Via The Instructors Approval
ReplyDeleteStay Strong ,
Cheers
I would totally wear that husky hat (or whatever that critter is). I should have worn my penguin hat to work this morning - it was 25 degrees!
ReplyDeleteThat art work in the first photo immediately reminded me of my art project for tomorrow night's Art Challenge Group meeting. I'll post a photo of it sometime after the meeting and you'll see why I was reminded.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping they can get the tree branch cleaned up quickly. I love the cat pillow!
Do you suppose the Constitution was an early example of a statement of purpose? If so, I can see the need (although it's certainly being ignored these days) but for a library?
ReplyDeleteWhatever.
I dreamed about our old dog Pearl last night. Strangest dream. I was on an airplane with a bunch of really obnoxious, snooty rich people but some of the rich people were sweet and wanted Pearl, who was also on the plane, to snuggle with them. This was probably inspired by my visit with Jessie's dog Sophie yesterday. Anyway, I could not for the life of me figure out how Pearl had gotten on that plane. I thought, "I haven't even seen her in years!"
P.S. Too bad you can't borrow my new chain saw. Which I have not even touched yet.
DeleteIn our busy, chaotic world we are sometimes so occupied that we miss the tree falling. You notice the small things.
ReplyDeleteI have a beautiful watercolour of my old beagle that Vivian painted for me. It is cherished and hangs on the wall.
ReplyDeleteIt's blowing hard this morning outside but nothing like 112mph. That must have been horrific.
When I used to work, we would be periodically rounded up to define our vision, mission, goals and objectives. It was then typed up, put in a three ring binder and shelved, thus coining the phrase "shelf ware". It felt like we were living in a Dilbert cartoon.
ReplyDeleteWe were always having to come up with statements of purpose and they were usually flowery and impractical. Trees come down whenever they want and are often a surprise. I know that from much experience.
ReplyDeleteTrees and large branches fall without notice. Winter wind, cold, rain/snow/ice weaken trees and branches and they fall. I call it Winter pruning. Hopefully your garden wall is not damaged.
ReplyDeleteA friend in Wales mailed me a card on the first of December and I just got it last week. Mail service has been quite spotty in recent months.
ReplyDeleteThe cat cushion is a keeper, Jim a sucker for cushions
ReplyDelete