PART I "I said, you are about to hurt yourself silly. And don't forget your necklace on the way out." I turned around, startled "Huh?... What??" I sorta said out loud to the chilly, golden light of the early Spring morning. I wasn't aware that a tree could sigh and speak in the same moment of time, but I experienced it in this way. "You're sweet, but go home to your kid and make yourself a nice cuppa joe, cuz It's not gonna happen". Just then, the 20 year old, 7 foot tall , Contorted Filbert Tree did it's best Guido - "ForGEHT about it". As my thoughts scrambled to present a solution, it became clearer to me while I dug a radial trench around the drip line . The careful work of my shovel was revealing a 2" thick root system, and I thought, the answer to today's transplant/relocation endeavor might be; "Damn. You're right. I know your probably right. I need to take a break and think about this. I'll be back in an hour. Don't go anywhere..." "If you say so..." "But believe you me, when I tell you, I'm not going anywhere today." Three yellow finches flitted as they merged within the inner canopy of this otherworldly specimen, this magnificent Hazelnut, who's future was on the chopping block of it's existence. The new home owner's botanical sentiments being, "Curly whatever's just not our thing, ya know? " No. I didn't "know". "We want it gone because we are going to put in a fabulous stone stairway from our front door to the sidewalk, and that helps keep the carpets cleaner." I literally bit my tongue and flinched from the pain. I needed a quick mantra before my tongue recovered enough for ego to make a bigger mess than this pile of dirt I'd been digging up. "Focus on the tree, the tree is your focus. Focus on the tree, the tree is your focus." How do you make it your goal to stay in the good graces of someone you don't agree with or hold respect for? By remembering they are you. If I pick this battle, I am jousting with an aspect of myself, albeit one I may have grown away from. Somewhere in my shadow is the quality of preferring nice carpets over sacred old growth trees. Not today. Invoke love, not ego's spite - thoughts of being better for experiencing reverence for this living symbol of life's bridge between worlds. I did some affirmative nodding while projecting a thoughtful countenance and said, "Yes, yes. Let me see what I can do - the root ball is getting a good soak, so I'll be back in a bit with some help". I left with my necklace still dangling on one of the tree's lower limbs. Earlier that morning, when I first arrived, I offered my respects and sought the tree's permission for the task at hand, offering a bit of brown bread and ale, and hung my stone on it's branch as a calling card. Now, I kinda felt silly for the whole thing, because I could have just asked. Who knew? Wood could talk. PART II When I returned to the site, it was not with help and it was not with cakes and ale and a reverent attitude. I plopped down under the branches atop a large, well established ground root, which had surfaced itself long ago into just the right shape to keep my backside from slipping off down the slight decline of the current landscape. A landscape scheduled, soon, for sheer destruction. A little flock of purple Crocus shuddered together in unison, causing a usually cheerful patch of Forget Me Nots to worry that their namesake would be for naught. "Pull up a chair. Talk to me". Why did I get the feeling I was the one being comforted? I was curious about the calm demeanor emanating from this non-human entity in the face of it's hingey future. I thought about this Filbert Tree being felled for selfish, cosmetic purposes. "..but, you're so beautiful... you're - so beautiful", was all the internal language I could come up with. Could I really get teary over this? "Hey, I brought espresso, biscotti, pears, and a cheese c.., canna, cannelloni." I said, in a morning-breakfast-picnic-voice. "Would you care for any?" In the original draft of this writing, the spell checker went off on me as I typed this last line, listing the goodies. So did the tree, right then. "Holly Saint Julian, no, It's, ... CAHN-uh-LOWWW-nee. Bees-CAA-tee." "What do you know of St. Julian?" I asked, between cookie bites. And without saying so, I understood the tree to take it's coffee with 4 packs of sugar, and that the Finch Clan would have a bit of the ricotta filling from my pastry-pronunciation-disaster. "She was a dancer." Right, no. I was expecting anything but that misinformed answer. But, to remain respectful, here...I responded in the least patronizing tone possible, "Okay, - really? She danced?" "Yup. That is just exactly what I originally meant to say. She- was- a -dancer. And, she IS the patron Saint of all things Hazel." Okay. I thought, now I'm talking to a Catholic tree. Maybe the original owners of the property were Italian Roman Catholics, which could then do my needy, pitiful, Gemini mind a favor, and throw me a bone. That info could wrap me up one clean, tidy, logical explanation of this Goodfella sounding Filbert with it's East Coast pizza-pie accent. So I asked. " I was wondering about the other family, if they....." "Nope. Not even close. And no cigars from Cuba, either. Atheists. They was both of them math teachers, no time for the Who-What-When-Wheres & Whys of 'Thee Uni-verse'." Awesome. At this point, I just wanted to munch on my pear for a minute, and process my head. I flashed to the other night, in my son's room, helping him with his homework. "Mom, do you hear that?" "Hear What?" I said. "That really fast piano music, like a chase scene in a cartoon?" He explained. "You don't hear it?" He was asking, worriedly. I said, "Well....not right this minute, but if you give me a chance I might hear it..." His eyes started to water up as he asked, "Mom, am I crazy for hearing music by myself?" I said, "Not even a little. I think you are ready for piano lessons, that's all." I promised him, "Hey, everyone in the world hears someone saying their name just before they doze off. Just ask around. Its very, very, common." I thought, now would not be the time to share with him about these tree talks. Later, for that. So, I took another bite of pear. "Yup. A- tee-yests." ...cont'd (c) E. Wyndrose

Well........this may take forever since i just lost 2 long paragraphs! thanks for thinking about me and to Lydia for the heads-up about this post. i try to keep up with reading but it's usually too frustrating to try and reply one-handed......and my left hand at that! the typos and mistakes i make drive me nuts! Anyway....i am still kicking (with my left leg, lol.) i am going to therapy twice a week and am trying to get into an in-patient program either in East Tn near my home or in Atlanta. it will all come down to whether my insurance will pay or not. my goal is to move back to my house asap, with hired help 24/7 of course. March 12 will make a year since my aneurysm and i'm ready to move on in a big way! in the time since i left the hospital in late July, i have gained about 90% of my left arm, maybe 20%of my right. same vwith the legs and i can stand up with help. my therapist likes to make me "walk" down the parallel bars.. she moves my right leg and i move the left. strength and endurance are primary targets. i got a motorized wheelchair a few months ago (thanks BCBS.$24,000!!) that has given me lots of independence around the house. my son and his family continue to put up with me.......... so, that is about it for now. i will hit "submit" before i lose this again! Also, to Linda.....got your card and would love to do lunch sometime. i will call you when it looks like someone vcan drive me somewhere! Julie 9

I'm biting the bullet and looking for a new receiver with at least six HDMI 'ports'. I don't think we will be 'streaming' anything unless the offerings improve for our 'demographic'. LOL Today AT&T emailed me, touting their "U-Verse" -- which sounds like it would replace the DirecTV HD-DVR they already provide us, bundled with landline and internet. The promo seems aimed at people who need 24/7 'connectivity' via hand helds...or music. I doubt they have any wider selection movies on offer than what I saw on Amazon and Netflix. Any DVD's we get from the library that are longer than a movie have two-week check-outs. We're in town a couple times a week anyway, so detouring a block to the library is easy. We still sometimes check out 'real' books, too. LOL

jeaninwa.....there is some crack pot going around starting forest fires....20 of them so far. ...2500 acres of forest were lost in this one....animals running all over town, across the highway.....people panicking(car accidents everywhere during the evacuation)....senseless confusion. :0( Hwy 24 is still closed, people are stranded and can't get home, Woodland park has run out of gas. The entire police force has neighborhoods closed off to keep "the arsonist" from gaining acesss to the mountains/woods, while they fight THIS fire..... bengardening.....I appreciate ALL the firefighters that worked to put all those fires out. 9 are sitill burning here in Colorado, but are mostly under control. Thank goodness your DH is such a good person and is willing to help out.....he's very special!!!