Quickly, the sky turned very dark and the wind picked up. I went to the back door and peered out. Thunder sounded ominously and the wind began to whip leaves at the house and there it was – CRACK! It was so loud I jumped back away from the door. I knew lightening had hit very close and likely, right here. At first glance I didn’t see anything but after a few, I saw it! There was a very large branch straddling the roof of my tent!  And a number of trees down beside it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The frame of the old swing set is what saved everything from complete destruction. I used it as a clothesline for my drying prints. All the trees are straddling it, being held up in the air, barely over the garden.

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I was working with both tables sifting compost I made into containers to spread where needed, sorting out all that hadn’t decomposed like the big twigs and roots that will be burned before spreading back into one garden or another.

 

 

 

 

Turns out there are more trees down out front.

I don’t know how we’re ever going to get them all cut up and cleared out. I’m still healing from hand surgery and scheduled for more in a month or so. Last week, it cost a small fortune to unclog sewage pipes that had tree roots growing in them, breaking the pipes as well. We have some figuring to do. These are the kinds of unplanned events that force old folks out of their own homes.